Erin Line

Responsibilities

As a Family Support Worker, I work directly with families involved in the child welfare system by providing supervised parenting time visits, helping them achieve their case plan goals, and ensuring compliance with court-ordered requirements. I provide transportation for children and parents to and from visits, coordinate scheduling, and connect families to community resources. During visits, I observe and document interactions between parents and their children, and I must submit that documentation to our website within 24 hours. The focus of this internship is to help families work toward reunification. An important thing to note is that visitations often occur at the parents' home, in the community, or at Jenda visitation centers.

Accomplishments

My greatest accomplishment during this internship was fostering connections and building rapport with the families I worked with. I have built a relationship with them on trust and respect, and parents often confide in me about different situations and struggles they are dealing with. Another accomplishment I am proud of is learning how to set strong boundaries between my clients and becoming more assertive. During this internship, you will have to be open to growth and working independently in the field.

Learning experience

The greatest lesson I have learned is to confide in your supervisor. There will be times when you feel overwhelmed, and sharing those feelings with others will help you feel better and talk through your problems to find a solution. Another lesson I learned is that you do not need to say yes to everything. It is important to get a lot of experience; however, your mental health is important, so you must take time for yourself and learn to manage it. Burnout is real!

What advice would you give?

Some advice I have is to be flexible. I had to learn a lot about flexibility and realize that human service professions are all about working around clients' schedules. This means working many evenings and weekends. Additionally, working with and for people is very different from most jobs; people are unpredictable, and you will have to learn to roll with it. Additionally, you will have so many meaningful and memorable experiences that make these adjustments worth it! It is really hard at first, but you start to get the hang of it. Don't underestimate yourself.