It's Just Not the Same

An aside to my blogger friends: This post is dedicated to a good friend of mine and most of it will only be unstandable to seven other people, but please, feel free to read it anyway. There are funny pictures if nothing else:)

A lot of you know that I'm a social worker. I have been a social worker for four years now, but I've had a social work job for almost nine years. I got my bachelor's degree in psychology and a good friend of mine told me about a job with the United Methodist's Children's Home in their family preservation program. My friend was (and still is) the supervisor of the foster care program so, on her recommendation, I had the job before I ever interviewed. After a few years, I got my master's degree in social work while contining to work with UMCH.

I don't talk a lot about my job on my blog (mainly b/c there's not a lot I'm allowed to talk about:), but I can talk about the people I work with. There are seven of us - well, there WERE seven of us until a couple of days ago. I mentioned that I work on the family preservation side. There are five of us on this side - a supervisor, staff assistant and three caseworkers. The line to describe what we do is this: "We work with children who have been abused or neglected and provid servies in the home (parenting, anger managment, etc.) in order to assist families in remaining together as a unit and not having to place children in foster care." We are contracted through the Department of Human Resources. There's a lot more to it than that, but that's the line we use. We also have a foster care unit made up of two people - a supervisor and a caseworker - and that's what I'm writing about today.

You can imagine that there are negative parts to the job. You see a lot of sadness, abuse, anger, poverty, hunger, uncleanliness, drugs, and on and on. Because of this, it's important to have a strong support system within your agency. That is my most favorite thing about where I work - the people. I have worked with the same seven women for 6 years now. That was the last time we got a new worker in our program. It has been wonderfully different and an experience I've never seen from another work environment. There is so much drama on the outside with the families we work with, but there isn't any between us. We just all genuinely like each other. And, more than that, we know how to make it fun - at least some of the time!

But, we've lost one this week. My friend and coworker, Phyllis (who is the comic relief around here) worked her last day earlier in the week. She was the caseworker with the foster care unit. We all sort of took her last day to love on her and send her off in style, but it was difficult! She went to a new job for reasons that made sense and were best for her and her family, but I've decided that I am still protesting - even after the fact!! So, I've dedicated this blog post to her. I'm going to bombard her with pictures and memories to make her miss us like crazy:) I just wanted her to know that we love her! She has been (and still is) a wonderful friend, a helpful coworker, a spoiling aunt to my child, an exceptional social worker, and most of all - an unreplaceable part of the "in" crowd.... :)

Me, Phyllis, and Jo Ann at the annual Social Work Conference (I think this was 2002 or 2003 - this picture made me realize that I have known these girls a good bit longer than I've known my husband! WOW!)


Jo Ann and Jack B in Carolyn's office - 2008


Carolyn, Haley (another special UMCH staffer's child) and Jo Ann riding the paddleboat at Lyndi's:


Phyllis and Jo Ann at the annual TFC Christmas party:


Phyllis and her son Tay at the annual TFC Christmas party: (you wouldn't believe how big this kid is now!)


Dancing at one of Phyllis's famous New Year's birthday parties:


TFC Picnic Luau:


Jack B with Jo Ann and Phyllis - Christmas 2008


CPI Training 2008 - This is what we do:)


Look at that sweet smile Phyllis has!! That's her supervisor she has in a safe hold!

Getting ready to deliver Christmas presents to our kids. The Methodist Church in our town partners with us to get the children we serve Christmas every year. Great ministry - and one of the best days of the year for us:



I think you can see what a different kind of work environment this is, but, of course, the best memories are never caught on film. Here are some more just for Phyllis:


false teeth on the table

black bears on the nature trail

Jo Ann's graceful tumble

"Walmart trips" to the Dreampark

hunting for crab meat

pizza at midnight

"fixing" Secret Santa

Secret Pals and African art

the delicacy of raisin pie

And of course, being the other "mean girl" :-)

Here's the whole crew:

We are doing ok without Phyllis and I know she's doing ok without us, but no matter who replaces her and how great she does at her new job.... It's just not the same!

The United Methodist Children's Home is a great non-profit organization that helps children and families all over Alabama and West Florida. For more infomation about my agency, you can go to www.umch.net.