Makenzie Erdahl

Responsibilities

My responsibilities included helping workers with paperwork, such as scanning items, entering them into online systems, and sorting and filing. I also attended home visits, court hearings, and meetings to observe. Workers also asked me to help with transports, which is taking a child to and from a destination.

Accomplishments

My greatest accomplishment at my internship was sorting through and filing over 500 paternity tests. I had to read through them, make sure all the documents were there, enter them into an online system, and then sort them into a filing cabinet alphabetically. It was a lot of work and took a few days, but I felt very good when I got the job finished.

Learning experience

One of the greatest lessons I learned during my internship is that not every family will be happy or appreciative of the work you do. In fact, many families do not want you involved in their lives, but your job is to keep children safe. It is completely okay if the families do not like you or appreciate what you are doing.

What advice would you give?

My advice to future HDFS students is to be open to many different opportunities. I wanted this internship at HHS because I knew I wanted to pursue child protection as a career. But while I was here, I got to see so many different types of work that happen here. Just be open to seeing many different things because it makes your experience so much better.