What do you DO?

Someone asked me this yesterday and it got me thinking about it. One of my coworkers will sometimes say that she's a 'butcher' at parties. Seriously, she says, "I'm a butcher." It pretty much ends right there. Otherwise... you wouldn't BELIEVE some of the conversations that follow after you tell someone what we really do.

Depending on the situation, I try to skirt around the issue and say that 'I work for the State.' When that's enough, "I work with kids with special needs". Both statements are true, and people usually say nice things and that's the end of it.

What do I really do? Well, I'm a caseworker for the State (of Utah) for the Division of Child and Family Services. I work with kids in foster care. (those are special needs, right?) Actually, I'm on a specialty team that has kids with developmental delays, mental or medical issues, or are just plain tough (think kids that have been in and out of a few 'failed' adoptive homes, or learned very early on to steal, lie, and run away).

That's when the stories start. They usually start with "My sisters, neighbors nephew has a kid..." Or, "My mom's friend's daughter...", or my personal favorite, "Can you do something about..." Aside from all of that... what do I actually DO?

Well, I have 16 kids on my caseload. All 16 have to be visited in the home at least once a month. I attend most school meetings, (and for my kids, most doctor appointments), and court hearings. Every case is in front of a judge as little as twice a year or as often as once a week (yeah for juvenile delinquents), most of them go once every 3 months. I complete quarterly court reports, twice yearly service plans, Child and Family Assessments, updated every three months, and I have to log EVERYTHING! Emails, phone calls, incident reports, medical paperwork. "If you didn't log it, it didn't happen" That's the stuff that I can plan for. The rest of my hours and days are full of things that I didn't plan for. -Like when kids don't have a placement, they run and I have to do a pick-up order (yes, that's a warrant for arrest), or search through binder after binder of their case file looking for a medical report from 6 years ago.

Every once in a while, when I don't owe anyone a phone call, all of my kids have a home at night, and I'm not overdue on 5 or more service plans... I think that I'm a pretty good caseworker. It wasn't anything that I dreamed about as a kid (I want to grow up and be the legal guardian for a dozen or more kids who don't have a family to live with) but there are some perks. I work on an AWESOME team! We don't get a lot of support from anyone else in the division, department, or state offices on up, but we have a GREAT supportive supervisor and team members. I know its the ONLY reason that I'm still here.
And also, every once in a while, you get to hear some much appreciated praise from foster parents, attorneys, teachers and medical professionals. Not TOO much, we shouldn't think we deserve a raise or anything, but yesterday was a good day, so I think I'll come back into work on Monday.