My Motivations

I want to work in human services because it’s not only something I’m passionate about, but I feel I am compassionate and empathetic towards people due to my personal experiences in situations I was put in growing up.

I decided I wanted to work in human services because when I was one, I was put into the foster care system with my brother and sister. When I was four or five, old enough to really remember things, my brother, sister and I were all adopted together, by the same family. When I was eight, my parents adopted three more kids. Before I was adopted, they had already had two biological children and an adopted daughter. I was diagnosed with depression and panic and anxiety disorders, my brother was diagnosed with ADHD and depression, and my sister was diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder, bipolar disorder, and depression. Right before my 16th birthday, my brother-in-law committed suicide. That hit my family hard. As we were finally moving on with life, exactly a year later, we were hit hard with another heartbreak. The day before my 17th birthday, I was alerted by a friend that my boyfriend and best friend of almost 15 years, had murdered his parents and 12-year-old sister. He committed suicide by police officer by shooting at six police officers after he caused a wreck in Maryland. When I graduated high school, my parents started fostering again and we now have five more children that we will, hopefully, be adding to our family soon.

I think my experiences will help me to be a good human services worker because I can relate to some things and I can be compassionate and empathetic towards situations that I have never been in. I have been through many obstacles in life, but I survived and I’m stronger than ever now. I believe my strengths are that I truly care, sometimes I think maybe too much. I feel for every single person I come in contact with. I constantly want to help others. I want to be able to make a difference in someone’s life. When I worked in retail, I always kept a smile on my face and asked everyone how their day was because I knew that even if my day was the worst day I could have had, I could at least be kind to someone else and hopefully make a small but meaningful difference in their day. “Empathy is particularly important to social work practice. Clients experiencing empathy through treatment have improved outcomes. Empathic social work practitioners are more effective and can balance their roles better.” (Gerdes, K., Segal, E.) I could be having the worst breakdown ever and I will still drop everything to be there for someone else. My friends will call or text me when they’re having problems or just need to talk and I could be in the middle of something horrendous, but I would still answer them as soon as possible. I think that’s my main strength.

I think my experiences could also hinder my success as a human services professional, because I can’t relate to everyone. I was raised well and in a good home and I can’t relate to someone who grew up with virtually nothing and sometimes it is difficult to put myself in their shoes and try to understand their circumstances. Sometimes, I can act privileged and come across as obnoxious. I also believe a weakness for me is my strength, my kindness and caringness. I care too much sometimes. I think that could definitely get in the way of my being a successful human services worker.

The fields I most want to work in are with children, families, and protective services. I believe that goes back to my roots, and being adopted and having been through the foster care system at one point in my life. It might not see like I went through anything very bad, but I can remember things from way back then. As a very detail-oriented person, I remember the smallest things that most people wouldn’t remember. I primarily want to work in adoption or family law as a paralegal. I think from my personal experiences, I have what it takes.