Children of the World

I love my job because I make a difference in children’s lives. The children that need help the most. The families that need help the most. My job title is Visitation Specialist. I work for a company called Caring Hearts Social Services in Spokane, WA. What I do is pick children, of all ages, up from their placements, transport them to the visitation facility, and supervise the visits that go on between these children and their biological parents and/or family members. I have been a nanny, a teacher’s assistant at a daycare, I’ve done volunteer work, really anything that allows me to help the children of the world. To be a dependable, happy person in their lives is everything. I can attest to the fact that you will never ever receive anything as pure and genuine than the love from a child.

I stumbled upon this current job that I have on Indeed. I honestly had no idea about this kind of work. I was hired on the sport and immediately fell in love. I noticed the bond that I would build with each and every child that I was assigned to, and it did not take long either. The times we get to spend driving in my car or waiting for their parents, will forever remain in my heart. We talk about anything and everything, we giggle, laugh, and sometimes cry. We sing loudly to their favorite music. We may even drive in compete silence. These children do not always get this love and attention. They could be in homes they’re not familiar with, group homes, dirty homes. The possibilities are endless.

You can have this job and not say anything to these kids. You could just transport them to their visits, observe and right your reports. It is not a requirement to build these bonds. But for me, my heart is wide open to these children. To all children.

I make a difference in the whole families lives. I assist the parents who are trying their best to be reunified with their babies. I write detailed reports on what the visit was like, word for word most times, on what is being said. It is a non-biased, factual, report that gets sent to their social worker that is then sent to the judge to be read. The judge takes these reports into great consideration when determining if the child/children will be returned to their biological families or if they will be adopted by another or unfortunately be left in the system. That is the downfall, the children who remain in the system. Such an unfathomable, difficult, road is ahead of them. I can only hope that for whatever time they get to see me, I make them smile and forget about what is going on in their lives, even just for a moment. I live for the times, their waves from a distance turn into big hugs. No matter their ages, they all have one thing in common, they just want to love and to be loved.

Most of the time, there are happy endings for these children. Weather it be being reunified or not, it is usually for the best. It is cool to be apart of a process like this. I get to see the growth of children and typically their parents. Or I get to see an awesome kid get to be adopted. This experience is especially near and dear to my heart because I, along with my three older siblings, were adopted. I recently just gave birth to my first child, a son, and I thought I would want to be done with this kind of work but being a mom has only intensified my passion for helping children. I hope to always be a part of social work and foster care, not only to children in America, but to make a difference to children of the world.