Not much was happening in the office this Friday.
I did a lot of sitting around and feeling guilty for not doing anything. I spent the first half of the morning filling out paperwork to get birth certificates and social security cards for children in care. Fun stuff right here, I tell ya!
I sat in on a meeting with Leigh, her supervisor, and a case manager with a client. The client was a woman with many mental disorders. She mentioned schizophrenia. DFCS has been involved in her family for about 6 months. This particular meeting was informing here that if she didn't take care of a few things, DFCS would be seeking a court order to have her do them. Her children need some types of medical treatment and she had canceled all the appointments that had been set up. They told her she had until Feb. 15 to have the childrens' appointments done and they would be taking her to court.
It was a sad situation all around because she had no form of transportation and said she was about to be kicked out of her house. Her friend had agreed to let her two kids stay with her, but the client and her fiance are likely about to be homeless. Sigh.
I then met Neville. Neville is actually an MSW student as well and in my adoption and foster care class. He is advanced standing though (he has a BSW, so we graduates with his MSW in a year) In addition to being in school full time, he works for Sleepy County DFCS. Dedication right there. He in an investigator, so he took me out to investigate. We were going to Tia's home. Neville had been out to Tia's home quite a few times (the first time she actually told him she was the babysitter, lol) Tia and her husband had split up and the three kids lived with both of them. Someone made a report that Tia's trailer had drug needles in the sink, the kids were unsupervised, and that her daughter's teeth were rotten and falling out.
Tia greeted us and the two youngest kids were outside playing. Her daughter's teeth were definitely rotten and falling out. The children did look dirty and unkempt. Neville asked me in the car if I thought Tia was high and I said no. I did admit that I don't know what people look/act like when they're high. Neville was trying to get the name of the dentist that Tia said had seen her children. She said she had been to the dentist and that he told her that she would just have to wait until the rotten teeth fell out. She didn't have much time to talk because she was needing to get her oldest son off the bus.
She promised Neville that she would get a ride to the DFCS office as soon as her son got off the bus. She needed to sign up for food stamps and medicaid and answer a few questions for Neville. Neville didn't think she would show up; we had a little bet. I was sure Tia was coming in. And she did. I was able to sit in on the meeting.
I'm getting tired, I'll have to write more on my reactions and thoughts tomorrow. I think I got most of what happened down.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Emergancy placement
I think I'm going to be on my own this semester at DFCS. I do what I want! Seriously, I just walk around and ask people if I can go with them or what they're doing or why they're doing that or can I read your case files? Some of my classmates talked about how their whole day is planned out and it's all very structured - not me!
I arrived this morning a little late - around 8:35. I keep forgetting that my car is going to have an inch of ice on it in the morning and then I took a wrong turn. I don't know if I'll ever be able to put the GPS to rest. I was so worried about being late and then neither one of my supervisors were there yet. Leigh showed up and told me Isla was home sick with her son. She sent me to hang out with Rose. Rose just started in November and is very cheery and sweet. My favorite kind of person. We chatted a bit about her current case, but she admitted that her day was probably going to be pretty boring. Then Leigh came back and said that Nia was going on an immediate and I could go with her. I asked what an immediate was and quickly responded with...WELL DUH! It means you have to immediately go to the site.
We loaded up in Nia's nice big SUV and quickly got very lost. We had an address that was something like 23C Yourstreet. Well we found 23 Yoursteet and knocked and no one answered. We asked the neighbor if he knew where this person lived. He pointed us to a house up the road, we knock and he points us to a couple of duplexes. It's amazing how people know each other!
When we pull up a police officer steps outside and tells us what is going on. Mariah, a 16 year old girl, has been arrested. Mariah is no stranger to the police and the officer tells us that he hopes she will be gone for a long time. Mariah's 2 year old son is being raised be her mother. I think Mariah was arrested for beating her mother, I'm not too clear on that though. But to get back at her mother, Mariah told the officers that she didn't want her mom to keep her son. Luckily the baby's father was involved and his mother took custody of the child for the time being. Mariah's mom was crying and you could tell she loved the little one so much. It was a pretty short visit, Nia just copied down the paternal grandmothers information and then we left.
When late afternoon rolled around a foster care placement case manager (Lucy) called Emile and told him that I was going to need to find a placement for a sibling group who had come into custody that morning. The children had been removed from the duplex right next to Mariah's house - what a coincidence. I was freaking out at this point, because I felt like they were leaving these kids' lives in my hands and that I was not qualified to take on such a huge responsibility. But, I have to learn sometime! I was given a list of private agencies (I had actually already tried all the foster homes in Sleepy County. [I'm going to call the county Sleepy, because I don't think much ever happens there] The little was tiny and rather pitiful. I think the oldest age on the list was about 11)
Conversations went something like this-
Hi, this is Private Agency Whatever
Hi - I'm Hazel - with Sleepy County DFCS. I'm calling about an emergency placement for a 12 year old girl and a 15 year old boy.
Oh, well they're a little too old. We might be have a home for the girl, but not the boy. I'll call you back in 30 minutes.Well, they're great kids. They have no known behavioral issues and we really need them to stay together. They are in court right now and we really need a placement for them for tonight.
NO BEHAVIORAL ISSUES! Are you lying to me!?
No, I promise I'm not ;)
Well why were they taken into care?
Neglect & parents' substance abuse
Around and around. Questions that caught me off guard: Will the children mind being in a black foster home? (they were white) and How big is the boy?
Eventually, I was able to find two homes for them! YAY :) Unfortunately, the closest (where the CM took them) was about 30 minutes away. Not only were the kids going into care, they were going to have to go to a new school in a new city.
I went out with Lucy to the home of the children. When we got there, the building manager had to let us all in. Our group consisted of Harry (the investigator), Lucy (foster care), me, and the sister of the children (age 19) and her boyfriend. The kids didn't even get to pack up their own stuff.
The house was....filthy and sad. No place I would ever want to live, but it was their home and I was sad that they had to leave it. Since we were not the homeowners, the building manager told us we could only take clothes. The boy really wanted to take his XBOX, but we were told we wouldn't be able to take it from the house. There were no suit cases, clothes were carried out by hand and piled into Lucy's car. After we had been there about 20 minutes, the parents arrived in the grandmother's truck.
The parents really touched me. They were incredibly sweet and worried and open and...just like anyone you might meet on the street. The dad was worried about the placement and Lucy told him that I had found a home for the kids. He thanked me profusely and asked if there were other children in the home. I assured him that his children were the only ones there and he was thankful once again. He said he had grown up in the system and knew what could happen when you got a bunch of foster children in one home.
Hmm, I asked Emile about workers being foster parents. He seemed surprised by the question and said that he didn't think most people who worked in DFCS would want to be foster parents because they see enough at the office.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Big Mama
When I saw that we would be watching Big Mama during my first class, I immediately wondered what Big Mama's House had to do with social work.
Big Mama, Viola Dees had everything to do with social work.
Big Mama follows 18 months in the lives of Viola Dees, an African American grandmother, and Walter, her grandson, as she tries to raise him alone in South Central Los Angeles. Dees has taken care of Walter since the age of four, when his father (Viola's son) died. Walter appears in the documentary as bright and sweetly loving to his grandmother, but also profoundly troubled, affected by his mother's prenatal drug intake. In the documentary, Walter is nine, and Dees is turning 90.
Big Mama
I've never thought too much about grandparents as primary caregivers. I can't say much about the film, except that it moved me to tears. I'm beginning to learn there is no right and wrong in this field...and sometimes nothing is best. I had a feeling of hopelessness while watching the film; Walter had no where to go. His grandmother was dying, his family wasn't equipped to take him, etc. Just a stream of bads in the life of a boy so young.
I feel like the more we learn, the less answers there are. Such is life...
Big Mama, Viola Dees had everything to do with social work.
Big Mama follows 18 months in the lives of Viola Dees, an African American grandmother, and Walter, her grandson, as she tries to raise him alone in South Central Los Angeles. Dees has taken care of Walter since the age of four, when his father (Viola's son) died. Walter appears in the documentary as bright and sweetly loving to his grandmother, but also profoundly troubled, affected by his mother's prenatal drug intake. In the documentary, Walter is nine, and Dees is turning 90.
Big Mama
I've never thought too much about grandparents as primary caregivers. I can't say much about the film, except that it moved me to tears. I'm beginning to learn there is no right and wrong in this field...and sometimes nothing is best. I had a feeling of hopelessness while watching the film; Walter had no where to go. His grandmother was dying, his family wasn't equipped to take him, etc. Just a stream of bads in the life of a boy so young.
I feel like the more we learn, the less answers there are. Such is life...
Friday, January 8, 2010
The Dreaded Question
After yesterday, I have decided this is one of the worst questions to ask someone - and I heard it a lot.
"Hey Hazel, would you feel comfortable __________"
What exactly am I supposed to say? Obviously it was something ridiculous, I would say no.
But in this case:
1. It is my first day. Of course I don't feel comfortable doing it. I don't feel comfortable doing anything, because I don't know how! Because it is my first day. Because I don't know what to say to call a doctor's office and ask about a baby.
2. If I say no, what are you going to think of me.
3. There really is nothing better for me to do
The answer I gave many times yesterday - Sure, if you show me how!
"Hey Hazel, would you feel comfortable __________"
What exactly am I supposed to say? Obviously it was something ridiculous, I would say no.
But in this case:
1. It is my first day. Of course I don't feel comfortable doing it. I don't feel comfortable doing anything, because I don't know how! Because it is my first day. Because I don't know what to say to call a doctor's office and ask about a baby.
2. If I say no, what are you going to think of me.
3. There really is nothing better for me to do
The answer I gave many times yesterday - Sure, if you show me how!
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Whirlwind!
Today was very first day as a social worker. Kind of!
* remember names are always from my imagination :)
Overall, I would rate my first day as a 7. Considering, Leigh (my contact supervisor) didn't tell anyone we would be starting today, I did get to see a lot.
The county I am working in is about 20 miles away. So of course, in my head I calculate that it will probably take me about 45 minutes to get there and I'll probably want to be early just to make a good impression. Right? Wrong! I sat in my car for almost an hour, waiting for Leigh. I finally called her cell close to 8:30 and she didn't answer. She did drive up about 10 minutes later though.
When we walked in the office - she confirmed that I wanted to do mostly foster care. In walks Isla. I am immediately handed over to Isla who is going to court for the day. Joy! We chat a bit in the car and arrive at the courthouse. It's quite an impressive building and when I commented on it she told that it had just opened in April. Fancy stuff!
Our first order of the day was an adoption finalization. Isla had placed six different children in the home of a single mom and she was going to be finalizing the adoption of the last one that day. She was very excited and I could tell this was one of those cases for her. You know, one where it's not just client/social worker, but a friendship. Well this family breaks stereotype number 1 in my little world. In walks this lady with 6 little white kids. I know there are Caucasian children in foster care, but I don't think I have ever seen a picture/met a family who had this many foster kids and not one of them be a minority. The finalization took all of 5 minutes. Isla cried.
Then we sat in the lobby for a good hour waiting to be called for a case. The case is called. From what I could tell it involved 3 sisters. Sister3 was homeless and had signed over rights to Sister1. Sister1 wanted to sign those rights over to Sister2. It came to light, that though the court had sent a letter to Sister3 to notify her of the meeting (and Sisters 1&2 had talked to Sister3 - so she knew about the meeting) the letter had not been sent certified. It was sent 1st class. And since Sister3 signed over her rights voluntarily they needed her to switch them.
After this we went back to the office. I ate lunch with another worker and sat around her office for about 2.5 hours not doing much.
Then I was given to Emile (sociology undergrad too!) We had the most fun. He was very talkative and engaging. We went to sit in on a school meeting. The meeting was about the Winters. Mr/Mrs Winter are an older couple who had no children. They were granted custody of three cousins (6,7,8). They voluntarily gave up their rights when they couldn't handle the children's behavior. They did a case plan and regained rights in the fall. Mr. Winter was not in the meeting. Mrs. Winter is a very stubborn woman. I can think of no other ways to describe her.
We met in the principals office and there were SO many people there. Each teacher, counselor, 3 interns, teacher's aide, IEP lady, district rep, principal, social worker, and kids' therapist. Right off the bat - the tension was heavy. I was APPALLED at how the teachers and school counselor treated Mrs. Winters. There was a light of sighs, eye rolls, talking under their breaths, etc. One teacher stormed out in the middle of the meeting with a loud door slam.
Many issues were discussed, but I think the main reason nothing was getting accomplished was because the school did not think the Winters' were fit parents.There was so much going on, I don't even think I could list it all. Mrs. W didn't want to teachers to give the kids a snack if they had eaten their snack from home on the bus or if she didn't send one. The teachers didn't think that was fair. Mrs. Winters didn't want the teachers to hug the children, because she is trying to teach them proper boundaries. Compromise was made to offer side hugs and make sure the children ask before. Mrs. Winters has to deal with a lot of sexual behaviors at home that the children aren't usually displaying at school - so she sends them to school with punishments. Teachers don't think it's fair. Just around and around and around. With little respect, nothing much was accomplished. I too, would be defensive if my child's teacher was implying that they have to feed my child because I am not.
Though I was amazed at the lack of respect towards Mrs. Winter, it was easy to see why the teachers were behaving that way. Mrs. W kept bringing up past offenses (like from the last school year) of things she didn't like. Even after the therapist explained to her that keeping snacks away from kids who hoard isn't going to help, she still didn't want to let the kids have two snacks, etc. etc.
I caught a glimpse of the kids on the way back to the car and they were beautiful :) Hard to imagine they had been through so much.
When we arrived back at the office I was able to read a few of the files Isla was closing. Awful.
I don't really have many thoughts about today yet. Though I did post a facebook message after work about not being sure I was cut out for the job. I need to think back on the day and what made me feel that way. I know a lot of it had to be with being assertive, something I know I need to work on.
I also discovered I have severe phone phobia! I HATE making a phone call with other people in the room. At one point I had to make some calls to ensure an infant was being taken to his well baby exams. That was hard work in an office full of people!
I know this probably doesn't make much sense, but I wanted to get something down before I forgot the details of today. If you made it through this far, I am sorry for going on and on!
* remember names are always from my imagination :)
Overall, I would rate my first day as a 7. Considering, Leigh (my contact supervisor) didn't tell anyone we would be starting today, I did get to see a lot.
The county I am working in is about 20 miles away. So of course, in my head I calculate that it will probably take me about 45 minutes to get there and I'll probably want to be early just to make a good impression. Right? Wrong! I sat in my car for almost an hour, waiting for Leigh. I finally called her cell close to 8:30 and she didn't answer. She did drive up about 10 minutes later though.
When we walked in the office - she confirmed that I wanted to do mostly foster care. In walks Isla. I am immediately handed over to Isla who is going to court for the day. Joy! We chat a bit in the car and arrive at the courthouse. It's quite an impressive building and when I commented on it she told that it had just opened in April. Fancy stuff!
Our first order of the day was an adoption finalization. Isla had placed six different children in the home of a single mom and she was going to be finalizing the adoption of the last one that day. She was very excited and I could tell this was one of those cases for her. You know, one where it's not just client/social worker, but a friendship. Well this family breaks stereotype number 1 in my little world. In walks this lady with 6 little white kids. I know there are Caucasian children in foster care, but I don't think I have ever seen a picture/met a family who had this many foster kids and not one of them be a minority. The finalization took all of 5 minutes. Isla cried.
Then we sat in the lobby for a good hour waiting to be called for a case. The case is called. From what I could tell it involved 3 sisters. Sister3 was homeless and had signed over rights to Sister1. Sister1 wanted to sign those rights over to Sister2. It came to light, that though the court had sent a letter to Sister3 to notify her of the meeting (and Sisters 1&2 had talked to Sister3 - so she knew about the meeting) the letter had not been sent certified. It was sent 1st class. And since Sister3 signed over her rights voluntarily they needed her to switch them.
After this we went back to the office. I ate lunch with another worker and sat around her office for about 2.5 hours not doing much.
Then I was given to Emile (sociology undergrad too!) We had the most fun. He was very talkative and engaging. We went to sit in on a school meeting. The meeting was about the Winters. Mr/Mrs Winter are an older couple who had no children. They were granted custody of three cousins (6,7,8). They voluntarily gave up their rights when they couldn't handle the children's behavior. They did a case plan and regained rights in the fall. Mr. Winter was not in the meeting. Mrs. Winter is a very stubborn woman. I can think of no other ways to describe her.
We met in the principals office and there were SO many people there. Each teacher, counselor, 3 interns, teacher's aide, IEP lady, district rep, principal, social worker, and kids' therapist. Right off the bat - the tension was heavy. I was APPALLED at how the teachers and school counselor treated Mrs. Winters. There was a light of sighs, eye rolls, talking under their breaths, etc. One teacher stormed out in the middle of the meeting with a loud door slam.
Many issues were discussed, but I think the main reason nothing was getting accomplished was because the school did not think the Winters' were fit parents.There was so much going on, I don't even think I could list it all. Mrs. W didn't want to teachers to give the kids a snack if they had eaten their snack from home on the bus or if she didn't send one. The teachers didn't think that was fair. Mrs. Winters didn't want the teachers to hug the children, because she is trying to teach them proper boundaries. Compromise was made to offer side hugs and make sure the children ask before. Mrs. Winters has to deal with a lot of sexual behaviors at home that the children aren't usually displaying at school - so she sends them to school with punishments. Teachers don't think it's fair. Just around and around and around. With little respect, nothing much was accomplished. I too, would be defensive if my child's teacher was implying that they have to feed my child because I am not.
Though I was amazed at the lack of respect towards Mrs. Winter, it was easy to see why the teachers were behaving that way. Mrs. W kept bringing up past offenses (like from the last school year) of things she didn't like. Even after the therapist explained to her that keeping snacks away from kids who hoard isn't going to help, she still didn't want to let the kids have two snacks, etc. etc.
I caught a glimpse of the kids on the way back to the car and they were beautiful :) Hard to imagine they had been through so much.
When we arrived back at the office I was able to read a few of the files Isla was closing. Awful.
I don't really have many thoughts about today yet. Though I did post a facebook message after work about not being sure I was cut out for the job. I need to think back on the day and what made me feel that way. I know a lot of it had to be with being assertive, something I know I need to work on.
I also discovered I have severe phone phobia! I HATE making a phone call with other people in the room. At one point I had to make some calls to ensure an infant was being taken to his well baby exams. That was hard work in an office full of people!
I know this probably doesn't make much sense, but I wanted to get something down before I forgot the details of today. If you made it through this far, I am sorry for going on and on!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Almost there
Did my last presentation today.
My research paper on adoption and first mothers is due Tuesday at 12. After that, I AM HOME FREE. I'm flying home on the 16th for the holidays.
Next semester, I have two electives: Forensic Social Work and Adoption & Foster Care. Required classes...I can't remember. LOL, sad I know.
This program as definitely been a learning experience. I snickered at orientation when they talked about how we would come to know ourselves in a different light. So true. Coming from such a closed minded under-graduate school and city, it's been eye-opening to me to see people who are so different from me in class. It's forced me to think about how I really feel. I've had many debates in my head about my beliefs and why I believe what I believe. If certain beliefs are actually biblical or just someone's interpretation. I've had to learn how to take my own beliefs out of the equation, when it comes to other people. In that case, it doesn't matter what I think is right or wrong. Harder to do than I thought.
I think everyone should have to take some social work classes and get uncomfortable, it's good for you!
My research paper on adoption and first mothers is due Tuesday at 12. After that, I AM HOME FREE. I'm flying home on the 16th for the holidays.
Next semester, I have two electives: Forensic Social Work and Adoption & Foster Care. Required classes...I can't remember. LOL, sad I know.
This program as definitely been a learning experience. I snickered at orientation when they talked about how we would come to know ourselves in a different light. So true. Coming from such a closed minded under-graduate school and city, it's been eye-opening to me to see people who are so different from me in class. It's forced me to think about how I really feel. I've had many debates in my head about my beliefs and why I believe what I believe. If certain beliefs are actually biblical or just someone's interpretation. I've had to learn how to take my own beliefs out of the equation, when it comes to other people. In that case, it doesn't matter what I think is right or wrong. Harder to do than I thought.
I think everyone should have to take some social work classes and get uncomfortable, it's good for you!
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