Abuse and Neglect.

[MomToOneOfEach]

Like many people dealing with my job from day to day is sometimes over-whelming and a bit challenging.  I love my job don't get me wrong because in the back of my mind I know that myself and the people that I work on a daily basis are doing something good within the community.  This is all coming from a post I read a while back bashing people who work in jobs like I do.....So this is my little vent session.

 I work for the Abuse and Neglect Unit within the Juvenile Office.  Looking back on it and analyzing my job I have come to realize that "good days" are few and far between.  At the end of the day you sometimes just want to go home and cry after the things that you have read about or seen pictures of.  You have to literally just keep thinking that in the end, even though you may have a long way to go that what you are doing is in the best interest of the child and that you probably just saved their life.

 When we do have to take children away from their parents it's for good reason.  Their parents are most of the time drug addicts and could care less about their children.  These children that we see come in this office from day to day and the court cases that we deal with that are endless are just plain sad.  We are dealing with people who have sexually abused their children, locked them in bed rooms (even as young as two) and expected them to use the bathroom in vents and eat food that was slid under the door for them so that the parents can go out and get high, people who have physically beaten their children, who have been forced to live in dog houses because the parents were so hell bent on spending rent money on crack that they got evicted from their home.

 What we do is for the good of the child.  The parents either straighten up (sometimes, not anywhere near as much as you would like) or we permanently take the kids and adopt them to families who will take very good care of them and love them like they need to be loved.

 Why the hell after the types of days that we go through here should we have to go out into the public and be scrutinized for it??  It is simply going to be said here....IF YOU CAN'T BE GOOD PARENTS AND PROVIDE A SAFE ENVIRONMENT FOR YOUR CHILDREN THEN YOU DON'T DESERVE THEM.

 On top of all the sadness you really hope when you leave the building that someone who we have taken their kids doesn't come up upon you one day at the store when they are stoned out of their mind and don't really know what they are doing.  You would surprised at how many times that people in the office have had threats made toward them. Oh that almost happens once a day here. 

 So for those of you who like to talk shit about people who do these kinds of jobs....Until you can walk a day in their shoes and see the kind of bullshit crap that we have to see....Shut the hell up.

 Sorry to vent to you all but hey thanks for reading.

[sadiee21]

May. 29, 2009 at 5:39 PM

I think it takes a lot to be a social worker and I know that a lot of you have way to many cases. That being said there are some out there that do not care and take advantage. I commend you for getting up everyday and not only going to your job but actually caring about it. Thank you for the good that you are doing in these children's lives. You are also changing some of the adult's lives, those that choose to take the wake up call you provide and use it to better themselves. Thank you again!

[robinann5]

May. 29, 2009 at 7:46 PM

Oh I think you have one of the hardest jobs. I couldn't do it, I would become too emotionally involved, I'd want to take all the kids home with me. It's nice to know there are "real" people doing these jobs, people that really do care about the children. That's what it's all about. I have been raising my 2 year old granddaughter, and we are at the very beginning with Social Serives. I really do hope they can help us get this straightened out.