Tag: child welfare

Friday Morning Rant

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Saw someone online refer to children wearing masks as “child abuse” and even though I’ve heard that expressed before it hit me differently this morning. So let me take a moment….You don’t have to like masks. You don’t have to agree that they work or make your kid wear one. Fine.

But what we’re NOT gonna do is act for one single moment like a child wearing cloth on their face is anything approaching the realm of child abuse. Flippantly equating these two things is an INSULT to victims of abuse. It makes me livid that anyone can think the two are the same. Child abuse, REAL CHILD ABUSE, happens every day and leaves lasting scars on the lives, bodies, and psyches of children. If you believe wearing a mask is the same as being abused, I’ll just go ahead and tell you you’re wrong. You are wrong and you’re stupid.

My work has brought me into contact with hundreds of children who have suffered real abuse in their lives. Don’t you DARE make light of their experiences by equating mask wearing to real child abuse!! Don’t. You. Dare.

If that’s how you really think, please open your home as a foster parent and try doing your part for real victims of child abuse and neglect instead of playing politics and having fake hysterics over masks.

Child welfare agencies in this state are DROWNING while trying to help and keep safe real victims of childhood abuse and neglect. My coworkers and I are trying to stem the tide EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. We are losing the battle and losing ourselves in the process.

Stop making the mask issue about YOU. Stop sitting in your comfortable homes, in your comfortable lives, saying such stupid things and GET OUT AND DO SOMETHING THAT ACTUALLY PREVENTS CHILD ABUSE. But you don’t have the balls. Because if you did, you’d have to admit there are bigger problems in the world than cloth face coverings and if you admit it…heaven forbid you actually have to DO something to change it.

Heaven FORBID!!

Every Superhero has an origin story…

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I wasn’t always a kick-ass child welfare social worker. While my journey into this line of work doesn’t start with a tragedy or a run-in with a radioactive spider, I think it’s worth reflecting on.

In 2009 I was a fresh-faced graduate, with my Masters degree in hand and my sights on a career as an elementary school teacher. I taught for a few years in a rural school district that always seemed one budget decision away from insolvency. Unfortunately for me, that moment came sooner than I expected.

Due to budget issues, my district laid off every teacher on its payroll at the end of one school year. Once the budget crisis passed, most of those laid-off teachers were rehired. I was the new kid on the block and my school and when the budget forced them to cut positions, I was the one who got the axe. I hadn’t been there long and I was fairly expendable,

Thus began a few years of employment roulette. I spent a few years bouncing from one daycare center to the next, trying to earn enough income to pay my hefty student loans. My next-door neighbor, knowing my situation and my teaching background suggested that I submit applications to be a case manager for my state’s Department of Children’s Services.

Me? Work for the state? Help families navigate the child welfare system? Nope.

I decided not to apply for a job with such ENORMOUS responsibilities immediately after being laid-off. After all, I had a teaching degree and high hopes that I’d be able to get hired back to a teaching job. Alas, it was not to be.

After being laid off, I applied for more teaching jobs than I could count. One position I applied for was accompanied by a nice confirmation email that stated “We appreciate your application. 397 people have applied for this position and we will be interviewing a small number of candidates, blah blah blah…” Needless to say, the teaching job market was a dog eat dog business. I ended up being the dog that got eaten.

So, after spending a while making slightly above minimum wage working in a daycare and not making any headway with breaking back into teaching, I decided to bite the bullet and apply for a job in child welfare. Three months and two interviews later, I was hired on making more money as an entry-level case manager than I did as a Masters level teacher.

Seven years later and I’m a team leader of a group of 7 other foster care case manager. During my time at the department, I have worked 5 years as a front-line worker and two years as a supervisor. I have helped over 100 children find permanency with either their biological family or an adoptive family. I love what I do even on the hardest days.

I don’t have a social work degree but I have a heart for helping others and enough curiosity to never stop learning. I hope I get to continue this work for a long time.