Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Just Another Day in the Life of a Social Worker

So today was a sad day at work. My heart broke. As many of you know I have a 13 year old client who has a horrible life. It is so sad to see her pain everyday. She has a rough home life and pretty much is her mother's Cinderella. Her clothes wreak of cigarettes and are dirty. My heart reaches out to her everyday. Today she was depressed and while we cleaned her room she started crying about her life. She told me that she isn't happy and that she is a reject at school and the kids tease her mercilessly. She told me about her desire to become gothic. I spoke with her about why I thought it was a bad idea. Then I expressed to her how I felt about her.

Most of the time she is able to maintain a great attitude, and is SO nice and is always willing to help. She is SO talented but cannot develop her talents because of her home environment. What else can I say to this girl who is so depressed but to "just endure". She is such a strong girl and I often picture her and what she would be like, had she been born to a different home. She would be amazing, and relief society president material for sure. She just has this inner strength to her that is hard to miss. I expressed this to her and she started to cry. It was an awesome experience to be able to continue to lift her spirits, but it hurt my heart when all I wanted to tell her was that she is an AMAZING daughter of God, and to share the gospel with her, so that she might have the same hope that I have. Sadly I couldn't, and again I left that house with a deep ache in my heart.

2 comments:

Camille said...

How sad! Why doesn't CPS step in and get her out of that terrible home? I'm so glad she has you to give her strength, but I don't see why she isn't put into a more healthy environment.

Kate said...

It actually takes A LOT to have a kid taken out of a home. You would be surprised to know how many kids have lives similar to hers. There is just no way you could save every kid. For a kid to be taken there has to be signs of severe physical abuse, or they have a dirty home to the extent that there is animal feces where the kids eat an/or sleep. Since none of these apply to how my client lives, CPS wouldn't even bat an eye. It is sad, but true.