Child Welfare Social Workers
Social workers are the heart of Children Services. They provide protection to children from abuse and neglect and work to ensure that children have safe, stable homes. Social work is an integral part of the health, well-being and safety of the children and families served. Intervening on behalf of a child when parents are having problems is often difficult and challenging and requires skill and sensitivity. Social worker intervention frequently makes a critical difference in a child's life.
Social work often involves working with families that are affected by drugs, alcohol and crime, and people with mental or physical disabilities. There are many rewards for undertaking such work; there is the satisfying knowledge of seeing a child thrive through your hard work and perseverance or seeing a family reunified.
Social work is a profession with many different roles involved. Social workers can take a number of different positions depending on the case they’re working on and the people involved. They may be called on to provide support, speak up for a defenseless person or guide someone towards helpful steps to improve their lives. Social workers have a duty to protect their clients if they are vulnerable in any way and make decisions with their client’s best interest at heart.
Children's Heroes for Social Work Month
Social workers are people who care about people and want to make things better. They also want to help relieve suffering, and hope that their work makes a difference. These are the sentiments of four of Children Services' dedicated social workers- Craig Fitzgerald, Carron Johnson, Erin Sines and Tammy Grant.
Craig Fitzgerald, has been a Children Services caseworker in a pre-adolescent unit at East @ 205 for six years. This Youngstown native and Mount Union College grad likes that he's focused on helping families, and not just kids. The job is rewarding, he said, when he closes one of his cases and gets to "truly watch a family reunite or see a child go back home."
With a grandmother who was a foster parent and an aunt who was in foster care, Fitzgerald noted that he grew up with an awareness of child welfare professionals and the critical role that they play in shaping the lives of families. Fitzgerald finds his inspiration in "knowing you're providing a service for people at one of the most difficult times in their lives," he said.
Carron Johnson is a four-year veteran with Franklin County Children Services. This Columbus native began her career excited about the prospect of making a difference in the lives of children while helping families. She was particularly interested in working with teens, as she stated, "It is such a heartwarming experience to see a teen that has not had many positive life experiences overcome those issues, and create a path they never dreamed possible." She knew she would love helping children find their own niche.
Johnson has spent her entire tenure with Children Services at West Region where she works in Ramona Gates' unit. When asked about Carron, Gates said, "She meets each and every challenge presented, whether it's helping the children work through their issues, or working with a parent who believes the world has turned its back on them. She not only meets these challenges, but maintains her positive and caring disposition through it all."
As a Columbus native and Ohio State University graduate, Erin Sines, a caseworker in a pre-adolescent unit at East @ 525, got into social work because she wanted to help make a difference in the lives of kids and families. After being at Franklin County Children Services for almost six years, Sines said that the best part of her job is the chance to build and strengthen families. "It's nice having that impact, that you've made a change in a family's life for the better," she said.
While being a caseworker certainly has its challenges, Sines said her daily motivation is simply "trying to do the right thing." Getting a "thank you" from a family or seeing a child smile, is the best part of the job. "It's the little things," she said.
According to Tammy Grant, a foster care coordinator and 17-year veteran of Children Services, her choosing a career in social work was a no brainer. It was just a part of her up-bringing. "My family strongly believes in helping your fellow man," said Tammy. "To be honest, as a child growing up, I never knew anything about a Children Services agency. I never knew people could go to an agency for help. In my family and community where I was raised, we just helped each other out."
Because of the work Tammy does, she knows all too well that we're living in critical times when it comes to keeping children safe and the family unit strong. Tammy's hope for the community is that people would be more
open-minded and accepting of one another, and that Children Services will continue to allow children under agency care to have a voice about their future.
Tammy is delighted about the agency celebrating National Social Work Month. "Too many times, the work that we do goes unnoticed and in some cases, social workers are stereotyped. I am really looking forward to the All About Me Days, planned for staff. It allows our administration to take time and acknowledge us. Believe it or not, because of the All About Me Days, I now know how to scrapbook and line dance. These two activities are now my hobbies," said Tammy.
