Tell us a little bit about your
internship placement.
Wayne County Children Services’ mission is to protect abused, neglected, or dependent children and to strengthen families. The three units at WCCS are intake, ongoing, and adoption/kinship. All three units play an important role in accomplishing the agencies mission. I have been working closely with the intake unit, but I have also worked with the other units as well. Intake caseworkers are the caseworkers that get a case when it is first opened. The caseworkers are responsible for making attempts to talk to the family and to address the concerns that were reported to the agency. If families are uncooperative or it is evident that a child is unsafe then there are cases where the child is removed from the family. There will be a case plan/safety plan that is initiated with the family even if a child is not removed. The caseworkers refer clients to community services that will help them either get their child back or to improve themselves.
What are your job duties at your
internship? What sorts of activities have you been involved in?
Up to this point in my internship, I
have been working in the intake unit. Some of my duties include typing case
notes into the computer for caseworkers and making phone calls to providers to
get releases or any updated information regarding clients. I have had the
chance to shadow all of the intake workers by going on home visits and to court
with them. I have also sat in on family team meetings and semiannual review
meetings with families. I strongly feel that going on visits with a
caseworker it is beneficial for me because if I do mess up or forget what to
ask a client, they are there to help. Every day is a learning experience for
me, and I am thankful to have a supervisor that is willing to let me go out
into the field with other caseworkers.
How has Ashland University’s Social
Work Program prepared you for your internship?
Ashland University’s Social Work
Program has prepared me for my internship in several ways. The material that is
discussed in all of the social work classes is relevant to my internship in
some way. I find that the core competencies that are taught in the social work
program are essential to my internship. In my internship it is important to
know how to communicate effectively with clients and to also use empathy when
appropriate, and the social work program prepared me for this. I find myself
using skills that I learned from our professors in many situations in my internship.
As a student in the Social Work Program it is hard to visualize yourself using
the skills you learn in classes, but when you finally get to utilize those
skills in practice, they will come to you naturally because of the preparation
of Ashland University’s Social Work Program.
What have you enjoyed most about
your internship so far?
What I have enjoyed most about my internship at WCCS so
far is all of the different cases and experiences that I have been exposed
to. My day at the agency is never the
same and there is never a dull moment. I look forward to coming in every day to
learn and to ask questions to the caseworkers and my supervisor. My supervisor
and the caseworkers have all been open and have taken time to explain certain terms
and processes to me, which allows me to learn something new every day.
For more information about Wayne County Children
Services, please visit their website.
For more information about Ashland University’s Social
Work Program, please visit their website.
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