Caitlin Leeney
Internship Reflection
April 24, 2009
Since my internship with Lutheran Social Services began in September, I have
experienced a wide variety of situations. Throughout these experiences I have learned
more about myself and made a few important decisions about my future vocation. This
internship has helped me to decide on a future career for myself and helped solidify my
passion for adoption.
For the first few months of my internship my main task was to read
informational material in an attempt to better understand the extremely complex child
welfare system. This included reading informational pamphlets, court cases, social
histories, and service plans. While this was not the most exciting work, it did set the
foundation for the work I would do later in my internship.
Once I had a firm understanding of the child welfare system it was time to learn
the filing system. Everyday one of the child welfare specialists would give me a new
file and a stack of forms to add to the file. This was a daunting task considering that the
average file is made up of four to six 4 inch binders! Filing was generally a slow and
tedious task, but I gradually became faster as I learned where to put the dozens of
documents. Now my coworkers marvel at how fast I can file massive amounts of
information!
Another task that was extremely valuable to me was helping one of the adoption
workers prepare materials for adoptions out of foster care. This is the work I hope to do
in the future, and preparing these documents is one of the more complicated aspects of
the job. She would begin by giving me a list of what was needed and continue helping
me as I dug through huge files looking for the right forms. This task generally requires
standing at the copier for a few hours and making exorbitant amounts of copies. As
with the filing, I gradually became much faster at this task and can now finish it in
under 30 minutes.
Until the beginning of this month office related tasks were all I was allowed to
do because my background check had not yet gone through. Once it had, I was allowed
to supervise visits and transport children. This marked the biggest change in my
internship and possibly one of the biggest shocks of my year.
My very first home visit required me to pick up two children from their schools
and take them to their mother’s home and supervise a 2 hour visit. This seemed simple
enough, but it was one of the most challenging things I have ever done. While I was
supervising the visit, the mother was abusive to her child, lied to me about it, and there
was nothing I could do to stop it. After the visit ended and I had gone home I seriously
reconsidered my career choice. It was just so hard to watch these children suffer and it
seemed so impossible to be able to affect any change in the system. This was when I
realized that I had to continue on where I am so that I can do my part to help these
children and families. It is going to take a lot of work to ensure that children are
protected and I know that I am capable of putting in the necessary work to make it
possible.
Before this internship I was not able to decide between entering the work force
after graduation and going to grad school. Now that I have worked in the system for a
year I know that it is necessary for me to gain more experience in the field before I go
to grad school. This will allow me to have a better understanding of the child welfare
system so that when I do to go back to school I will have the necessary background
experience.
I would say that overall I will walk away from this internship and take with me
three major accomplishments. Firstly, I have gained a great understanding of how the
child welfare system functions. This is no small task considering how hugely
complicated and bureaucratic the system is. From the very basics of filing court reports
and other legal documents, to attending court hearings, this internship has helped me to
understand the system and learn how to work within it.
Secondly, this internship has helped me to realize what I am getting myself into.
Child welfare is not an easy career. It is challenging emotionally, physically, and
cognitively. I have already had to learn how to leave work at work and not let it
encroach into my personal life. I have also seen the amazing positive nature of child
welfare at the same time. I now realize that, despite all the hardships involved in child
welfare, it is worth it in the end to help these children and their families.
The final thing that I will take away from this internship is all of the amazing
people I have met and worked with. One of my favorite things about this internship has
been helping these amazing, hardworking people. It is very easy for them to get behind
on filing papers and making copies, and I have been more than happy to help lighten
their load by doing the boring dirty work. It is not the most exciting work in the world,
but I am so glad that I was able to help them in anyway I could.
I am so thankful to have experienced this internship. It was the perfect way for
me to explore my future and gain valuable experience. I am extremely grateful to the
CVR for allowing me the opportunity to experience this internship!