Sanity In Social Work

I'm a liberal minded foster care worker trying to be a calm, stable force of good amidst a world of red tape tornados.

[ruinedchildhood]

[fosteringist]

The joys of working with children!

[dankmemesreasonforliving]

[fosteringist]

This is perfect! Cause it’s hard and weird at first, but you still have a heart with glitter at the end. And your second, third, and fourth hard get more and more snazzy and take less and less time to complete.

[fosteringist]

“I don’t like my therapist because she calls me out on my bullshit.”

[fuckyeahanarchistbanners]

“Against all authority…except for my mom.”

[fosteringist]

Not exactly foster care related, but very important.

[filmaticbby]

[fosteringist]

I have had this conversation so many times

[fosteringist]

Messed up societal standards

I have definitely been told to “buck up” and “deal with it” when people around me in the office discuss sexual assault in graphic detail. But I just got chastised for discussing my coworker’s pregnancy with her.

Its gonna be a rough day, methinks.

[fosteringist]

Me with one of the therapy dogs who were at today’s adoption party. His name is Gus.

[fosteringist]

Some gems from a visit with a child

What makes you happy? Spending time with grandma. And getting good grades in school.

What makes you sad? That I can’t see [my sibling] very often.

What stresses you out? My nose. Oh? Yeah. When I touch it it’s sore cause I sneeze so much.

[ayyeejazzy-deactivated20171223]

This is too funny and cute

[geredug-deactivated20180802]

The goblin rises from its slumber.

[homoerotwitch]

@fandomfable

[fosteringist]

Actual footage of me and my child in the morning.

[fosteringist]

Me - Frosting, Cheezits, and a Rockstar for lunch!

Also Me - That is not what good self care looks like.

Me - Boooooooo.

[fosteringist]

Super disheartened right now

And of course, I can’t really expand on this, but the redacted version is that I’ve put tons of heart and energy and labor in to a case and it just isn’t being recognized. And I’m being, for lack of a better word, attacked in a very public way.

So yeah. This is social work. Everything feels scary and overwhelming, but all I can do is finish this lunch break and then get back to work and hope for the best.

[shezze-blog1]

I’m upset because I want to change the world but the world is too big and people are too mean

[wufflesvetinari]

“Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.” - Rabbi Tarfon

[fosteringist]

"Sometimes I don't even mean to roll my eyes. It just comes naturally."

- my 14 year old

[fosteringist]

The teenager asked if they could do only half their chores before we go shopping. I replied with "no. You have to do all your chores before we do fun things. Thems the rules." They rolled their eyes dramatically & returned to the dirty dishes. They then very matter of factly said "in a few years I won't have parents to make rules."

I of course responded with, "we will always be your parents. We will have less input about what you do when, but you are our child from here on out." They thought for a second and informed me that they hadn't thought of it that way, but that it was actually pretty cool.

[theflapofrabdolph-blog]

[fosteringist]

Oh look, it's my work children when we are trying to shoot an adoption video.

[fosteringist]

I need a specific playlist for “I’m leaving work and I am very upset, and possibly feeling a like I’ve been tilting at windmills, so I need to vent out all of these emotions before I get home.”

Any good thoughts?

[fosteringist]

I'm unsure how to reply to replies but the question was asked:

Are you singing along? Are you raging/screaming? Are you crying?

I would say mostly raging but a little singing.

Like today, I just felt really frustrated and inadequate. (So much so that it took me several hours to bring to mind the word inadequate.) And I have to work out as much of that as possible during the ride home because it's unfair to my family to be super upset when I come home & only be able to say "I was disrespected and something unpleasant happened. I can't say anything else." I am really working on not worrying about work stuff at home & not letting my family be affected by the difficult stuff in my job. Plus, when I come home I want to be in an good mood and feel like I can accomplish things.

[fosteringist]

I need a specific playlist for "I'm leaving work and I am very upset, and possibly feeling a like I've been tilting at windmills, so I need to vent out all of these emotions before I get home."

Any good thoughts?