Meet Karen. She’s a longtime member of the Clark County Family & Children Services team. We asked her for a few minutes of time last week to give our blog readers a behind-the-scenes look at the life of a foster care worker.
Describe your role with Clark County Family & Children Services:
I am a Social Service worker in the Foster Care Unit along with two others. We help people through the approval and recertification process for foster care and adoption. When an individual or couple applies to do foster care or adoption, I help them navigate the paperwork and processes.
How long have you been with the agency?
28 years total! I have worked in the Foster Care Unit for almost 25 of those years.
What’s a typical day like as a foster care social service worker (if there is such a thing)?
You guessed it! There is no such thing as a typical day. Maybe I’ll come in and start my day by sending out some information packets to prospective adoptive or foster parents; maybe I’ll go meet a family and do a home study as part of the process to become a foster family. Sometimes, we might have to make an emergency removal if a child is in danger in his or her home and place him or her with a foster family. But most days involve working with many different prospective foster parents or adoptive parents to help them finish the process so they can provide stable homes for kids.
What’s one of the best parts of your job?
I love talking to prospective parents or adoptive parents after they’ve gone through the orientation pre-service training. Sometimes these prospective parents will be hesitant or nervous about the idea of bringing a child they don’t know into their home. But I’ve talked to so many parents who come to me after the training and they’ve learned about these children, their needs and who they are … They tell me: “We can’t not do it. We have to become foster parents.” I love that.
