Keeping County Children Safe - Social Work Has It’s Challenges and Rewards
Fairfield-Renee Stewart-Cox decided to be a social worker like her older brother while attending Armijo High School, but the seasoned county employee now admits she knew little then about the challenging profession.
“It takes a very special person to be a social worker,” Stewart-Cox said.
Stewart-Cox works in the court division of child protective services. She provides case management to families whose children have been removed- always with the ultimate goal to reunite the family, she said.
At any given time, Stewart-Cox could be responsible for 30-40 children and their parents. She has to know where they are, find services they need, and make sure they complete their programs by court deadlines. The job can be physically, mentally, and emotionally draining, she said.
“Sometimes you feel like you’ve failed because you can’t give your all, but you do the best you can,” she said.
Social Workers Provide the Safety NetCounty social workers provide the safety net for the most vulnerable individuals in our community, Children Services director Linda Orrante said.
Key county programs that depend on dedicated social workers include Child Welfare Services, Older and Disabled Adult Services, CalWORKs, Responsible Fathers, Maternal Child and Adolescent Health Services and Mental Health Services.
Social workers along with law enforcement officers, teachers and many others who dedicate their lives to protecting children, our most precious resource, often are taken for granted, Orrante said.
Stewart-Cox and her 70 colleagues at Child Protective Services investigate more than 400 child abuse or neglect allegations each month.
Stewart-Cox, 35, lives in Fairfield with her husband and two sons. She’s expecting another baby in early April and is presently on maternity leave.
Working in the community she grew up in has its ups and downs, she said. She likes understanding the community, but dislikes finding the name of someone she grew up with in a case on her desk.
“It’s hard,” she said. “You grew up in the same neighborhood and your parents had the same values but she went that way and I went this way.”
She gives those cases to other social workers.
Patience is her most important and tested skill. Daily, she reminds herself to meet parents at their level and that they have a right to be angry because she has their children.
“You have to remember that they love their kids, too,” she said.
A month of appreciation is a small token, but one that gets noticed, Stewart-Cox said.
“It is good to know we are appreciated for what we do-the job no one wants to do,” she said.
Reprinted with permission from the Daily Republic |