The Helping Process

I choose to shadow and interview Jean Rizzolo, Lead Social Caseworker, at the Department of Human Services in the Division of Child Welfare Service. I have a huge interest in working with children and this seemed like a great fit for me. During the interview Mrs. Rizzolo informed me that she received her Bachelor Degree at Metro State University with a Major in Criminal Justice and a Minor is Psychology. She attended the University of Colorado Denver for her Masters in Counseling. She was drawn to social work because she always liked helping people and knew that it would be rewarding for her to pursue a career in social work.

Mrs. Rizzolo volunteered her time for many years in group homes and with the developmentally disabled, along with time volunteering at the Denver Victim Center. She spent almost two years working at a drug and alcohol clinic for in-patient and out-patient’s processing paperwork and giving UA’s. After she received her Bachelor Degree in Criminal Justice she took a job with the Denver District Divorce Courts but knew that she wanted to do more than just work an office job, which is why she continued her education towards a Master’s Degree in Counseling and was soon after hired on to work with Arapahoe County.She was with Arapahoe County for over five years before leaving to go work for Jefferson County where she has been for over 15 years now.

In May of 2012 Jean Rizzolo received a pin in honor of her 20 years of service in Social Work in the State of Colorado. She received this pin from the City of Denver’s Mayor Hancock, who treated her to lunch along with her entire team. The Denver Human Services Department is a public agency for the City of Denver. They receive their funding through the city, state and federal government.This is a primary social work setting with an objective to preserve families and keep children safe while working within the community. Mrs.

Rizzolo works specifically in the Family and Child Welfare Division where she has a team of eight caseworkers and social workers. Adoption and foster care services are done within this department and are served with the primary goal of keeping kids with a parent and if that is not possible then with a family member. Kids need permanency and keeping them with relatives or with someone they are close to and familiar with is most beneficial to the child.This agency does it’s best to recruit foster parents and adoptive parents within the child’s community to make the move as least dramatic as possible for the child. If it is determined that a child must go to an adoptive family then that family must go through extensive training and evaluation before being allowed to have a child placed in their home.

All training and legal fees and are paid by the state, so there is no cost to adopt a child. The child is also provided with Medicaid health insurance until the age of 18.Home studies are part of the evaluations done to ensure that children are safe and are not at risk in their homes or in their adoptive homes. A home study is a very widespread report that is done with each person that will be living in the home with the child. It consists of an entire overview of each individual ranging from how their childhood was, how their relationships is/was with their parents, friends and current or past spouses, any abuse they have ever experienced and how they dealt with it, any history of violence and so much more.Then it assesses the home itself and if it is suitable for a child and to ensure it will be safe and have privacy for the child.

Interviews and evaluations are also done on the child(ren) themselves; this allows the caseworker to get to know the child and their personality, how they are feeling and an assessment of what will be best for the child. The home study is done over several visits and can take up to a month to complete.If children are not going to be placed into adoption then Jean and her team also work with current families to provide any kind of treatment necessary including family therapy, child therapy, special education services, and alcohol and drug class also while looking toward other family members for support. Their goal is to do whatever is possible to keep the child with their family as long as it is safe for the child.

Throughout the day Jean is either on the phone, on her computer, in meetings or out doing assessments on families or interviewing children.Since she is the lead caseworker she is responsible for overseeing all the tasks that the other caseworkers are working on as well. There is a tremendous amount of paperwork that is involved in each and every case. From start to finish an adoption or foster care process can take anywhere from 8-12 weeks. Most of the families that this agency comes into contact and works with are in poverty or are facing financial difficulties. Most are either of Hispanic or Black ethnicity.

It is important to try and keep kids in their community or one they are familiar with so recruit efforts are made within their community so that if a child comes from a Spanish speaking home or neighborhood then efforts are made to keep that child in an environment that they are accustom to. Because of the environment that most of these kids come from, it is not uncommon to come into contact with a family that is illegally in the United States. This is not considered an issue and is usually bypassed. What is important is trying to keep the family together and help them with their problems.

Citizenship is only an issue when it comes to adoption and foster care. In these cases then those applying must be legal citizens. Mrs. Rizzolo made it clear that as a social worker when it comes to topics such as abortion or same sex marriage, you should not push your values onto others and if a caseworker does not agree with someone or with their beliefs then they can be removed from the case and someone else can take their place.

In regards to same sex marriage within the city of Denver it is not an issue when seeking to adopt or become a foster care parent.In other counties the rules are not all the same but within Denver it makes no difference what your sexual beliefs are as long as the child has a safe and caring environment to live in. This draws a lot of families wishing to adopt or become foster parents to come to Denver that are of same sex relationships. I asked Jean if she or her team has ever had to deal with aggressive or combative clients and she told me that on an average that most are very polite and glad that you are there to help them and get their family back on track.Especially the adoptive families, they are there under different circumstance so to be hostile or violent in that situation is not very common. Even though Jean, nor any of her team, has not faced a person or a situation that has become aggressive does not mean that it can’t happen or won’t happen.

She said you always need to be cautious and aware of your surroundings because you never know what people are thinking or are capable of. Mrs. Rizzolo discussed techniques that can be useful in social work for adults and children, and since Jean and her team deal with a lot of children I found her techniques for them very interesting.She explained that “children are not miniature adults”. The techniques and approaches that are effective with adult clients may not work with children. Social workers whose clients are children must add some new skills to their range of techniques, such as the use of play.

Play is a child’s natural means of communication and interacting with others. Jean says her team will conduct an interview with a child in a room that is familiar and comfortable to the child. If that is not possible, then they consider an open space that offers some privacy like a park or school playground.Many of the children that Jean and her team deal with are in out-of home placement or are facing it.

She said it’s important to realize that placement is always disruptive and emotionally traumatic to a child. Many children blame themselves for the family problems that led up to the placement and view placement as a punishment for some real or imagined wrongdoing. Once separated from their natural families and in placement, many children worry deeply about the well-being of their parents and any siblings still at home so it’s important to be sensitive to the pain of their separation and loss experiences.Relationship losses such as losing parents and siblings can have long-lasting, negative effects on a child. Because foster and adoptive children experience so much change and because their lives are so unpredictable, Jean says as a social worker you must be prepared to become a reliable figure in their lives.

Adopted and foster kids can be very sensitive to any hint of rejection. Some great advice Jean gave was “If you must miss an appointment with a child that is expecting you, explain the reason directly to the child.If you cannot keep a promise to the child, then don’t make a promise to the child! Jean admits it can be difficult at times for some caseworkers to avoid burnout. She said you have to learn how to balance work and life. You need to find a comfortable place within yourself that lets you know when you are becoming overwhelmed. Maintaining a strong supportive network of friends, eating right, getting plenty of sleep and exercise, developing good time management skills, and taking time to relax are all great ways to avoid burnout.

It also means not taking on more than you can handle and not becoming overly involved in the problems of the people you are trying to help.Mrs. Rizzolo admits she can become attached to cases and children and she does her best to keep her personal life separate from that. In Mrs. Rizzolo’s department, alongside her team the social workers are there to serve families and children and to keep them in their best interest, to keep them out of the least traumatic situation as possible, and to give as many services and options to the family as necessary to insure the family is preserved. What I have learned about the helping process relates to the work done by Mrs.

Rizzolo and her team immensely.Their entire objective is to help people, especially children. When I asked her what the helping process meant to her, she stated it’s away for professionals to reach out to those in need. Everything that this agency, including herself and her team, represents is what the helping process means to her.

Helping people help themselves or to helping those who are not capable of helping themselves, such as the children she tries to find a safe and loving environment for. There is no particular part of this experience that was challenging or surprising.I did enjoy experiencing a feel for what it might be like for me once I am actively in my social work career since this is an area I have interest. I would never have imagined what the process was like or the detail that goes into adopting, foster care and home studies.

There are extensive background checks to ensure that these children are being placed into caring protective hands and that makes me feel good. There are so many children out there that are hurting and living in unsafe situations and knowing that there are so many people out there every day doing all they can to protect these children is incredible.These people are selfless and relentless in their task to ensure that children are safe and taken care of and that is why I want to become a social worker especially in this field. I do believe that it is important for me to be as active within my community as possible. Helping others is something that I am passionate about and really enjoy doing.

Anytime I can do for others makes me feel like I am doing what I was meant to do. My efforts working with Jean will contribute to social change because it gave me insight on how things are done and what I can do now and in the future to help others.Working with Jean will affect my career just as I expected, it just proved to me where I want to make my focus, helping children. If I had to repeat this service the only change I would make would have been to actually go on a home study with a cases worker and be a part of the interview and assessment process. It seems very inspiring to me and I would have loved to be a part of one of those experiences. Maybe in a future class I will return to this agency and get the privilege of being a part of that.

Without question I will continue to be of service!