Four Weeks Down, Five to Go

The State of Michigan requires that any child welfare workers complete nine weeks of training through the Child Welfare Training Institute (CWTI) before they can begin managing cases on their own. I was enrolled in the CWTI on May 16 to begin this process. The first week was completing homework while working at my home office. I did online assignments and shadowed different workers. It allowed me to learn quite a bit more about the ins and outs of foster care.

The next two weeks consisted of classroom training with about 300 new hires. This included people with the state who were in CPS, foster care, and adoption. Also, there were private agencies there that were going to be doing foster care and adoption. There were some things that were helpful to learn, but some other stuff was just review to me. If you’re interested, you can check out our swearing-in ceremony here.

This past week was back in the office to do more homework. What was really nice about it was that I found out about a few cases I’ll be getting when I’m done in mid-July. This meant that I got to meet at least one of the families and talk to them. I also read up on some case files. It was very informative and it’s good to know about what I’ll be doing specifically.

The next three weeks I’ll be in Lansing for classroom learning on the specifics of doing foster care (namely the paperwork). Then another week in the office, and my final week will be a mock trial and a big test. As you can tell, my updates have been sparse, and probably will continue to be. Hopefully it’ll be a bit more regularly in July once training and class and interning are wrapping up.

My First Week of Work

It has been a while, I know. First I had finals, then it was my me time, and then it was my first week of work. However, even though the next few months are going to be insanity with a full-time job and 8 credits, I am going to work hard to write once a week. That is my promise.

Anyway, I thought some of you may be interested in my first week at the Department of Human Services. I arrived at eight in the morning along with another new hire. We were shown around the building and I was told that they actually moved me from a foster care caseworker to a children’s protective services (CPS, get used to that abbreviation) caseworker. This was fear inducing, as I like the idea of longterm cases from foster care. The in-and-out idea that exists in CPS makes me sad. I want to get to know my clients.

As I was trying to wrap my brain around this new change (while doing paperwork), another person came to tell me that they may actually move me back to foster care, however I should stick with CPS until I was told otherwise. So I spent all last week shadowing CPS workers and realizing that, if need be, it is a job I could actually do. The people were great and my supervisor cared about my well-being and learning. However, I still wanted to be in foster care.

Luckily, today I found out that I was switched. I got to read through a case and now I’ll spend the rest of the week shadowing foster care caseworkers. Hopefully next week I’ll begin the nine week training and then be able to get actual cases. Even though last week I learned a lot about an area of child welfare that I won’t be working in, I also learned a valuable lesson about myself. I often believe that I can’t handle something without trying it. In reality, it turns out that I can handle a lot more than I think. That’s nice to know.

Tomorrow I have four hours of class after work and Wednesday I have internship supervision and some interning, so, naturally, my weeks will be insane, but hopefully I’ll be able to handle all of it.

I’m Bi-Winning

A lot has happened in the last week (and two days, but the specific amount of time is not really the point). The last time I wrote to you, I was 22, and now I am 23, but frankly, that’s the lowest level of change. On my 23rd birthday, I was offered a full time position with the Department of Human Services as a foster care caseworker.

Those of you who keep up with my blog should know about the giant DHS recruitment that I went to a few weeks ago. At that recruitment, I was told it would be 4-6 weeks before I heard anything, which made me assume it wouldn’t be until the end of the semester. However, on March 16 I got a phone call offering me the position, which resulted in me jumping up and down, incredibly excited to know there was a job waiting for me in August.

However, as I called the county office to discuss getting a drug test, I found out that they would need me to start no later than the beginning of May. They were basically saying I could finish up this semester, but I’d need to figure something out about school for the Spring/Summer semester. Suddenly everything was different and I felt I needed to choose between the 12 credits left to get my MSW and a full-time, full benefits job. And I was panicked…

Now, for those of you who don’t know me, you may not know how much of a planner I am. I plan out my life and my days far in advance…I like knowing where I’m going and when. Throwing a kink in that chain is incredibly anxiety provoking for me, and none of this was in my plan. The goal was to get my MSW in August and have a job waiting for me, not to get a job and have to choose between that and my Masters, but alas, this was where I was. After a lot of thought, planning, and research, I chose to take the job and finish my MSW requirements by December instead of August.

So, the past week has been a lot of phone calls, emails, and paperwork, and it’s still not done. However, I think I’ve figured out what my classes will look like and my finishing my internship will look like. Basically, all that’s left is registration and financial aid, and the latter of those is basically out of my control (though I do have one last form to fill out and one more phone call to make). Slowly, carefully, things are falling into place, and the next six months are going to be crazy, but things will get done and I will be okay. I’m hoping to even move out of my parents’ house in early September and get my own apartment.

So, enjoy this crazy journey with me. Also, I received Rob Bell’s book on Monday and have begun to read it. Keep a look out for a full review sometime in the next few weeks.

*Note about the title: In case you don’t know, this is a Charlie Sheen reference. It is not supposed to mock anyone who is bi-sexual or bi-polar…just to mock Charlie Sheen…