I miss being useful, helpful, and of service to others~

Years ago I worked for the Family Preservation Project out of Seattle, Washington, through an extension based in Kentucky, through the Dept. of Social Services.  Not only did it involve keeping families together, it involved reunification of families that had been apart for a variety of reasons~none good.  The goal was to help the families make changes that needed to be made in order to keep their children, or to help them get their children back home.

It wasn’t an easy job, it was stressful, heartbreaking at times, infuriating with governmental red tape, and mind blowing that some parents couldn’t quite grasp that their children had to come first.  There was only really one outstanding memory that still crushes me to this day…my gut instinct went against what was supposed to be happening, but for the sake of the child(ren) I had to be loud and out with what I felt intuitively was going on…and it was, and it was right, and the children were removed, and I’m glad.

I was an aide to the therapists, that would go into the DSS referred families after the therapists had finished their allotted six weeks with the families.  The last few weeks the therapists were with the families I would accompany them to the homes, get to know them, and let them decide if they wanted further assistance based on what the therapist had been working on…and of course what DSS determined as further need.

I went into every kind of home imaginable, into every area imaginable, and loved it.  It was emotionally brutal and challenging, there were many sleepless nights, and of course doing paperwork being audited by FPP as well as state was a challenge within itself.

I miss it though.  I miss connecting with people I could genuinely help.  I was good at what I did, and found outlets of resources for these families that most had been turned away from. 

Sometimes I just really miss making a difference, even a little difference.