The New Social Worker Vol. 19, No. 3, Summer 2012 | Page 22

I

A Social Worker’s Mission
by Jessica Bradstreet, LCSW

am a social worker. I’m often burntout, stressed out, and have to-do
lists everywhere I turn around. My
computer desktop might just earn me an
Axis 1 diagnosis of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, as I have files within files
within files, all appropriately named
and organized according to job duty the
file falls under, category within that job
duty, subcategories, and on and on. My
Outlook inbox, another madhouse, with
“flagged” e-mails to follow up on (I know
I must drive people crazy with the number of times I check up on and re-check
up on things—this is my public apology
to those people), and e-mail archive
files with saved important information,
also organized into different folders by
category and relevance.

I have worked hard to get where I
am. Yet, as a social worker, I know that
one must continue fighting, because it
does not matter most days how hard
you work. There is still more work to be
done. When I leave my job at the end of
the day, someone else does not pick up
the shift. When I am done for the day,
the job is not shut off like a computer. I
work with people...they don’t stop at 5
p.m. as I am driving home in traffic.

No, no matter what time I drive
home, whether it’s an early day because
I have completed all of my to-dos for
that day, or whether it’s been a very long
day, people keep living, keep needing,
and the fight still rages on. On an early
day, some argue that I am still not so
lucky, because on that early day, I may
still be responding to e-mails or calls
until after 10 p.m. (the calls are usually
me staffing and consulting with the employees that I supervise, don’t want you
thinking I’m talking to clients that late!).
Was it really an early day? I’m not sure. I
am over-worked and under-paid.

Frankly, I work my butt off. But I
don’t always see it that way. One of the
things I can say is that I do not punch in
on a time clock. I manage my own time
(for the most part), and I am my own
boss (pretty much, although I work for a
private agency). There are a few positives!

However, there is always work to
be done, things not getting done, and
my own professional reputation is still
blooming. So, I charge on. To the next
day, the next crisis, the next need. I

do not have near enough support or
resources to do my job. But still, I fight
my way to get as much as I can get done,
done. I have not given up.

Occasionally, I am recognized or appreciated. Sometimes (not often enough),
something good happens for one of the
foster children in my program. Something I’ve fought for, the fighting pays
off. A child who needed to see a dentist
gets to see a dentist. An adoption happens. A child “gets better” with the hard
work and help of a good team.

I guess that is what keeps me going. At the end of the day, I know that
without some of my hard work, my
team’s good skills, my annoying e-mails,
and my kick-butt organizational skills,
something that needs to happen might
not happen. And there is always more
work to be done. More good work. By a
good social worker.

The reason I do it—foster children.
Children taken away from their families

20

Summer 2012

The New Social Worker

The reason I do it—foster
children. Children taken away
from their families because of
abuse and neglect. They all
have a story, a need, and many
layers of personality and being.
because of abuse and neglect. They all
have a story, a need, and many layers
of personality and being. They are all
taken, and they are put into a system that
sometimes does more damage for them
than the damage done to them on their
home-front. You see, one thing that I
truly believe in—although I am speaking
as a professional, not a mother—is that
children need stable, healthy families
who teach them right from wrong and
nurture and love them in a safe home.

Many children in our country, next
door, at our neighborhood schools, are
not getting this need met. Shame on
those parents. Or shame on their parents
for allowing the ignorance to carry over
into another generation. Or shame on
our country for not providing more education, prevention, and resources to stop
this cycle. Whoever is to blame, rightfully so, they are taken away. And foster
care begins.

Many good things can come from
this removal, sometimes even permanent

healing for a child or a new permanent
home. However, my point is that any
and every child needs this second chance
at the life that he or she deserves after
the first one, which is out of my realm of
control, is done to them.

As a young child, I knew that I
wanted to help people. I was raised by
a bleeding heart mother (not a social
worker) to rescue stray animals, feed the
homeless man every Sunday on the way
home from church, and feel sorry for the
children who did not have.

Growing up, I—like every other
child—dreamt of what I wanted to be
“when I grew up.” I once wanted to be
a veterinarian, then decided I could not
ever stand to put an animal to sleep, so
I decided to go along with something in
the “hospital helping” arena. So, after
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