So, I want to start with 2005 when I started my first real world job, or should I say, my career of social work. June 24, 2005, is now known as my hire date. I am asked this every time I need to sign up for training. I can't forget it. I attend Basic Skills Development AKA BSD for about 6 weeks. BSD is held in Austin and Belton necessitating very long commutes away from where I am told I will be working, Bryan TX. After the 6 weeks of "training" we graduate having learned absolutely nothing about the important and life altering job we will be doing.
At this point after graduation, I don't have a supervisor or know if I'll be working investigations, family based services (FBSS), or conservatorship (CVS). Now, in 2010, new employees go through BSD knowing exactly what track they will take so they are able to concentrate on learning and being trained specifically in that area. Anyway, a few weeks later, I gain a supervisor, a specialty, and a new office location. What?! I am housed in Franklin, the middle of no where, TX. Great, a 45 mile commute from good ol' Aggieland. I visit my new "office" only to find out, it is not an actual functioning office! It is a tiny rectangular building with only 3 offices in it, bathrooms that don't work, and a break room. Two investigators are housed there along with me. There is only one way in and out of that building and we keep the door locked at all times while we are there. Leaving this place in the dark is not smart but sometimes couldn't be avoided. Now, most people would not have lasted 6 months working for CPS, much less in these conditions and in this dump of an office...geeeshhh. Did I mention we did not have a functioning fax machine or telephones for over a month?! It is impossible to do social work with out phones!
Needless to say, working all hours of the night, being on-call and going out on night investigations, driving all over Texas, being punched in the face, kicked, threatened by an angry mom who just shot a man at a bar, and trying to keep teenagers from running away, getting pregnant, and killing themselves is not fun or healthy.
I'm not exactly sure how long the insomnia lasted but it was dreadful. It does eventually go away. Why am I still doing this? By this time, I am hooked...hooked on my kids. I cannot bare to leave them in some of the conditions we found them in, but after 14 months of commuting not just from CS to Franklin (because for some reason Region 7 refuses to let workers fly), but what seems like all over Texas, I decide I am burned out and want to move to Austin, TX. YAY! I apply for only one job in Austin, the only one I want, as an adoption prep worker and start looking for apartments that I will feel safe in since this will be my first move to a bigger city on my own where I know no one.
I love this quote because this is EXACTLY what it is like...and exactly how I felt my first year with CPS...
"The caseworkers bitch and moan and make jokes and often try their best, which is rarely good enough. Their training is inadequate, and the number of workers is far too small for the number of families in trouble. Some of the cases would require a battalion of cops and doctors to handle; instead there are two kids fresh out of college with good intentions and a handful of forms."~Anna Quindlen
So this is what my very first office looked like. I was on the floor learning about a case or maybe filing, who knows.
Check out the Old School monitor!
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