one week to go

As the semester winds down, there is not much new going on within my role in the agency. I am still leading groups, assisting the youth in the educational piece of the day program and visiting the adolescent I have been assigned for my case managment.

Monday I led group with the boys. We discussed ways in which they can better prepare themselves to become productive young adults

Tues. we continued the conversation and discussed Jay-Z, a promanent rapper who has worked hard and made it big in the industry.

Wed. I visited my student in his school. I then went to the agency and since I was to late to work with the kids in group, assisted one of the other interns in the computer lab.

Practice/micro: How have you experienced successful endings? What do you already do now to help your clients experience successful endings?

As we end this semester, I have been talking with the kids in the day program about how I will be leaving in a couple of days. Not surprisingly, the girls are a little more sensitive to the ending of the semester. They ask me questions about what I am going to do this summer, how I have liked my time at the agency, things like that. I have also provided them feedback that I have learned a lot from them and the conversations we have had. I have told them as well that the time spent over the last 15 weeks has been beneficial in my development as a person, and I appreciate their willingness to let me in and discuss issues they face on a regular basis.

Time:
Week: 16
Total: 229.5

Just another week

As the semester continues to roll on, the bulk of my work has been in the Day Program there at T.A.S. Last week did not produce much in the way of new activities.

Monday I was at the agency working with the kids in the day program. I co-led group with both the boys and the girls. As we continue to dialog with the kids in group time, I am continually amazed with the lack of respect they have for themselves. I am begining to wonder if the lack of respect comes from being desensitized within not only the community they live in, but also society as a whole. It seems as if the discussions about violence and shootings does not seems to bother them. They see people shot in their neighborhoods and see shooting on t.v., movies, and video games, and I wondering if they have continued to see this behavior as acceptable.

Tuesday I stopped in to see the kid that I have been working with within my case management. I did a questionnaire with him which helps to better understand what kind of treatment plan will work for him. This is a child who has been in services with one of the Therapist, so it was a good tool to reevaluate where he is at, what what may help him continue to improve his behavior.

Wed. i was at the agency again. I led goup discussion with only the boys. It did not go so well. They were more interested in talking about what was going on in the neighborhood than the topic at hand for the group. It is kind of hard for the kids to focus on because they are in group 4 days a week. After time, i think they just decide they don't need to discuss things that indepth any more.

Juvenile Structured Day Programs

The place in which I am doing my practicum is considered a Juvenile Structured Day Program (JSDP). Douglas Yearwood and Jibril Abdum-Muhaymin (2007) say this of JSDP's, "Structured day programs are designed to offer education to expelled and suspended youth and are sanctioned by the courts. These programs are part of a community corrections and juvenile rehabilitative effort" (p. 49). The two authors did a study on JSDP's in the state of North Carolina to see the effectiveness of the programs. What they found is that of the programs that responded, 1,803 suspended or expelled students attended the programs in 2001. Of those attending the programs, "521, or 28.9%, were reported to have no further contact with the juvenile courts after leavening the program. At least 200 of these students, or 11.1%, were reported to have had no further truancy incidents, and at least 477, or 26.5% , of the JSDP students reportedly improved in their school attendance" (p. 51). While this may not seem to be an outrageous amount of productivity among these students, those who have been helped in those programs have made a difference. Within the agency I have been at, it is incredible to see the change in some of the students I have been working with over the course of the semester. Within this program, the students have been given a safe place to learn and catch up academically to where they need to be. Have I seen drastic improvement in every teenager that has walked through the doors here at T.A.S.? No, but I have seen improvement in at least three or four kids and I know that this program will make a difference in those kids lives.

Source:
Abdum-Muhaymin, J. & Yearwood, D. (2007). Juvenile structured day programs for suspended and expelled youth: An evaluation of process and impact. Preventing School Failure, 51(4), 47-61. Retrieved April 14, 2008, from Academic Search Premiere.

Week 13

This past week at my practicum there was not a whole lot new the went on, but it went well in way of interating with the kids here in the program.



Monday - Monday in group we had a good conversation with the boys about some the media they see and how it pertains to their lives. The conversation started because of the movies they were talking about. All the movies portrayed some sort of illegal activity, everything from drug dealing/using to killing people. As we talked we also started talking about the music they listened to and what was portrayed in it. We had them print off the lyircs to their favorite song and we disected the lyrics. One particular song we focused on quite a bit. Within two verses of the rap song there were 41 different uses of racial and sexually durogatory slurs. We discussed how these types of lyrics only instilled more racial setbacks due to the sevarity of the lyrics.



Tuesday - Tuesday was kind of a short day because I left early to attend Phi Alpha National Honors society in which I was inducted into.



Wednesday - Wed. was a good day in the I was able to spend most of the afternoon with the kids in the computer lab. There were a few directional questions that the main facilitator of the day program wanted to get across to the kids, so he had me stay in with the kids on the computer lab. I was able to get quite a bit of work done on one of the free computers.

Values & Ethics/micro or macro: Describe an ethical issue, concern or dilemma you experienced in the field. How was it resolved?

One of the ethical issues I have faced here in the agency has been with an African American boy who seems to be oppositional towards me. It seems as if he does not recognize my leadership within the agency so he tests his limits to what he can do. This has made me wonder if the issue he has with me is racial or if he does not respect the authority I posess within the day program. I have not been able to resolve this as of yet.

Weekly hours: 12.5
Total hours for the semester: 196.5

Week 11

Week 11 was a good one for me here at the agency. On Monday and Tues. I was able to facilitate groups for both the boys and the girls in the day program. As I have written in past updates, many times the kids here at the program have had difficulty in understanding the values and basing their reactions off of that. On Tuesday we discussed statutory rape and what it was and the laws surrounding them. The girls gave me some pretty interesting insight in to the way they think about relationships. I also have to catch myself and think that they are only teenagers, but many of them have seen some messed up stuff already that would hinder their ability to function in a true loving relationship.

Wed. morning I was able to attend a seminar given by a man who does explusion hearings. This proved to be a very interesting seminar. You can read more about it in the post I did pertaining to it.

After the seminar, I went to a clients school. I observed him in the classroom for a little while. When I was getting ready to leave I was able to sit down and talk with him about his suspension that had occured on Monday.

Integration question:
HBSE/Macro: How can you determine what the formal and informal boundaries are in a community?

When looking at this question, I believe culture runs hand in hand with it. Different cultures alot for different boundaries. If you are in an African American community, an informal boundery would be the family. I say this because of the rich family ties that are seen in traditional African American families.

Also when looking at the bounderies one would also want to look at the socioeconomic status of the community. This has a huge impact on boundaries because it affects how people act and respond to certain situations.

Looking at formal boundaries, I believe these are boundaries that are set in stone and are known when you enter in to the community. Informal boundaries would be those that are understood within the community, but are not set. These are probably the most difficult, but also the most crucial in working with people on a regular basis. Understanding the informal allows one to better understand the community and what they stand for, increasing the ability to be affective in the community.

Weekly hours: 15
Total hours: 184

Institutional Discrimination

At the onset of this practicum one of the things I noticed was there was a surprising discrepancy of African Americans in the day program. The day program is set up to assist kids who has been expelled from school to help enable them to transition back in to the school system. So, with this approach, it was surprising to see that there was a discrepancy in the amount of African Americans. This led me to wonder why. One thought I had was the possibility of a problem with the institution of school. So I decided to look at institutional discrimination and how it related to the school system. I found a couple of articles from other people which I would like to share.

Joe Freeman says this of Institutional discrimination: "Institutional discrimination is built into the structure itself. Thus it is more covert and more tenacious. It can occur regardless of the desires or intentions of the people perpetuating it" (2008).

Understanding institutional discrimination in this context leads me to two ways in which I had gained a better understanding of institutional discrimination in the school systems. The largest area of discrimination within the school system is through academic tracking.

Academic tracking is when school administrators put students on tracks for academic goals. Some tracks consist of accelerated/gifted programs, vocational training, Core 40, or even special education. Rebecca L. Case states that studies reveals that African American and Hispanic youth have the highest representation in lower academic tracks. She states that youth are placed in academic tracts early in their academic careers, which then would make it difficult for youth to transition in to a different track. Thurs, if a child is placed in a lower track, it would then be difficult for them to move to a higher track, such as an Honors track, causing them to underachieve throughout their academic career and the likelihood of them attending college would be very low. Thirdly, she says that often time, the students who are discriminated against within the institution do not have parents who can advocate for their children because they do not understand the different tacks. She says, "The parents are unlikely to intervene on behalf of their child and push for a higher track placement" (University of Dayton, 2003).

There many other ways discrimination can happen within the school system, such as the lack of minority authors represented in the library and lack of minority teachers in the school system to better represent minority leadership, just to name a few ways. These are all things that happen within the institution of school that is overt and is hard to see it as discrimination. This is something that will continue to affect minority students unless white America is able to release the grips of ethnocentrism of the school system.

References:
Case, R. (2003). Not seperate but not equal: Education in the United States. Retrieved March 30, 2008 from the University of Dayton Website: http://academic.udayton.edu/race/04needs/education02.htm

Freeman, J. (2008). Institutional discrimination. Retrieved March 30, 2008, from Joe Freeman website: http://www.jofreeman.com/womensociety/institidiscrim.htm

Expulsion Procedures

I had the honor of attending a seminar this morning given at T.A.S. by a guy who his an expulsion examiner for the Indianapolis Public School system. This proved to be a very interesting seminar, and throughout the course of this blog entry I would like to look at some of the things covered in the seminar. One of the things I found very interesting is that there are many steps to the process. One cannot just be expelled because the principle does not what that particular child in the school. The students are given due process.

The first step in the expulsion process is the act itself from the student. Each school board sets what they believe are student misconduct and/or substantial disobedience. These are guidelines set by the school board which principles must follow.

The student is then suspended by the school. Another interesting fact I learned during this seminar is that by state law, schools can only suspend a child for a maximum of ten days. IPS's standard for suspension is only five days. Once the child is suspended, the Superintendent/Designee reviews the information and decides if an expulsion examiner needs to be assigned. If an expulsion examiner is assigned, the examiner than sends home a notice of the right to an expulsion meeting to the parents/guardians. However, if a Superintendent/Designee does not believe the child's actions are expellable, they have the opportunity to deny the requests of an examiner and the child returns to school.

If the parents accept the notice of the expulsion meeting, the meeting is then scheduled. However, if the parent.guardian does not reply to the notice, the student is expelled. However, the student then has an opportunity to file an appeal to the Superintendent/School Board to make a defense for their case.

If at the expulsion meeting, the principle does not show up, the expulsion file is dropped and the child is able to return to school.

At the expulsion meeting, the expulsion examiner hears the case from the principle and the student. If the examiner does not believe the principle has enough evidence to say the child is guilty of a particular misconduct, the examiner can determine that the child can go back to school. The child may have an attorney or other advocate present at the meeting, but they cannot speak in defense of the child. However, they can ask for the meeting to be stopped so that they can leave the meeting and discuss what has been said and what the child should say.

After each case has been made, the examiner makes his/her decision.

This is the gist of what occurs at an expulsion meeting. The principle has to have the proper evidence to convince the examiner that expulsion is necessary. This particular examiner discussed with though that IPS's expulsion rate has dropped by 66% this school year. This is due to the different alternative schools that have been created to meet the needs of those who need help. The Superintendent of a school has the right to refer the child to an alternative program instead of being expelled.

Another piece of information I found interesting is that principles cannot set their own "zero" tolerance rules. The only state mandated zero tolerance law deals with firearms.

References: Handouts received at seminar at T.A.S. on March 26, 2008

Week of march 17

Things seem to continue to progress well at T.A.S. There are a number of things I was able to do last week. On Monday evening I was able to sit down a with a couple of clients and do an assessment of their needs. There is an assessment form that T.A.S uses to gain a better understanding of where the client is at. The client I was working with is a client the MSW works with in the evening. I was doing the assessment to better understand where he has come and what some interventions that have not been done yet may better help him. After doing the assessment, I talked with the MSW and she agreed with the assessment of the client. One of the interventions that may be helpful for this client could be some type of group to help him better react in social settings. However, this is attainable at the present time due to time constraint currently on the family.

Tuesday I visited two clients I have been working with in the evening in their respected school. This was interesting because it was my first time doing the case management part by myself. It was a good learning experience for me. I was able to talk with a couple of school administrators that come in contact with the student, and they were able to give me some insight on how the clients were doing in school.

On Wednesday, I was able to lead group for both the boys group and the girls group. Surprisingly the girls group went the best. We discussed domestic violence. Some of the girls expressed stories of what they had witnessed with it dealt with domestic violence. We then discussed the power and control wheel and how it related to them. This proved to be a very good time of discussion.

Integration question:

HBSE: How might your assessment of a client differ from that of another person on your team, such as a nurse, doctor, or teacher?

Looking at this question, I believe my assessment of a client would differ than that of another person, such as a nurse or doctor because they would be looking at the client from a medical perspective. My perspective of the client is looked at from a social content. As a doctor works with a client, he/she would be working on the medical diagnosis, while I would be working with not only the client, but also the clients system.

When looking at how the I would assess the client compared to the teacher, it has been interesting to work with the kids that I have worked with. The teachers job, primarily is to teach a child information. Some teachers go out of their way to for relationships with their students and better understand what is going on at home, but for the most part, they are more worried about teaching material. Myself on the other hand am concerned about the interaction of the client with the teacher, his/peers, and how they process information on a social level. Looking at where I am at in the agency, it has been interesting to see how the kids process school and what their role is. I have been primarily working with kids in an "educational setting", so to see how the kids interact with the "educational" piece has been interesting. Also, the teacher does not get involved with the student in a cognitive way, but my role has been to work with the kids in the group setting to help them better understand the cognitive decisions they make on daily basis.

Hours last week: 18
Hours total: 169

Moving right along

I am going to include on here the last two weeks since I did not post last week.

Two weeks ago was a pretty quiet week. I was in the office working with the kids in the day program the three days I was there. That consists of, if I havent said it before, mainly working with the kids in groups and working with them as they work on an educational software that helps catch them up to where they need to be educationally for when they enter back in to the school system. The groups was pretty good. We continue to talk about building coping skills so that there actions and reactions can be better when dealing with peers and family members.

This past week was a really good learning experience for me. I sat in with one of the counselors that work with the kids one on one. I sat in on first client on Monday night. It was interesting to see how the counselor interacted with the client, because he was not very interactive with the counselor. As she talked with the client, he was picking at his fingers and not seeming like he cared to talk with her. Again, this goes back to my point of real life being different than role playing in class. In class everyone is hyper and happy to be there.....just an interesting observation......

On Tuesday I sat in on another client session and learned about my emotions...haha....the client was talking how he missed his biological father and that he wanted to spend time with him. I belive the client is like 7 or 8. He was REALLY sad about it, and it almost brought me to tears.....working with fathers is one place I feel I am pretty passionate about when I graduate from school, so this a subject that hit home.

I am continually working on my learning plan and am on track to complete it in the next couple of weeks......

Hours this week: 18:30
Hours total: 151

NASW Standards for working with adolescents

While I have been doing m practicum at an agency the works with adolescents, my field instructor passed on a set of standards the NASW adopted in 2003 in working with adolescents. This blog entry is intended to help you better understand what these standards are. In this blog entry, I will look at one or two points pertaining to each standard.

There are eleven standards within this set of standards. The eleven standards are knowledge of adolescent development, assessment, knowledge of family dynamics, cultural competence, self-empowerment of adolescents, understanding adolescent' needs, multidisciplinary case consultation, confidentiality, work environment, advocacy, and policies for effective practice.

When looking at knowledge of adolescent development the NASW standard says that social workers should be knowledgeable and show an understanding in "the significance of adolescents' steps in establishing an identity, which may include a natural form of rebelliousness and rejection of authority." (p. 8) Another area within the knowledge of adolescent development is understanding "the impact of substance abuse and violence on sdolescents' development and on their families" (p. 8).

The second standard, assessment, looks at the social workers ability to assess an adolesents situation and be able to obtain services for the child, whether it is through social institutions or community-based services. The standard also says that social workers should also be able to advocate for the adolescent to recieve services in which the social worker has assessed the client needs (p. 9).

Having knowledge of family dynamics is the third standard. "NASW defines families as two or more people who consider themselves 'family' and who assume obligations, functions and responsibilities generally essential to healthy family life" (p. 10).

Cultural Competence is the fourth standard. Cultural competence is interpretated as being "knowledgeable about deleterious effects of racism, sexism, ageism, heterosexuality or homophobia, Antisemitism, ethnocentrism, classism, and disability-based discrimination on adolescents lives and about the need to advocate for and with adolescents" (p. 12).

The fifth standard is Self-Empowerment of adolescents. Under this standard there are two things social workers can do to help self-empower adolescents. The first way is by advocating for youth to take part in agency boards or committees and also allow youth to take part in training to better services and policy which affect them. The second way social workers and self-empower youth is by helping them develp skills which will help them live independently (p. 12).

Under the sixth standard, understanding adolescents needs, the standard says, "Social workers need to be aware of adolescents' multidimensional lives, regardless of service focus. This includes the family, siblins, extended family, individuals whom the adolescent may reside, peer group, friends of the opposite sex, culrual and economic facts, refugee status, discrimination experiences, and exposure to violence in the community or family or from ware experiences" (p. 13).

The seventh standard deals with Multidisciplinary Case Consultation. Within this standard, it is improtant for social workers to work alongside other agencies who may be administering services to the youth and their family (p. 15).

The eight standard looks at confidentiality. In looking at confidentiality, the standard discusses how social workers should work with the client with confidentiality in mind. Aside from governmental laws which require the breaching of confindiality, the social worker should work within the limits of confidentiality to build trust between them and the client.

Work environment is the ninth standard. This standard says, " Social workers are responsible, in pat, for their own empowerment as staff of the organizations in which they work" (p. 16).

Advocacy is the tenth standard. Looking at advocacy, the standard says, "Social workers administrators in youth service agencies shall advocate for an increased understanding of the needs of youths, policy changes, and adequate resources to enable social workers to meet those needs, and appropriate working conditions for all workers" (p. 17).

The eleventh and final standard, policies for effective practice, states, "Social work administrators in youth services agencies shall establish the environment, policies, procedures, and guidelines necessary for effective social work practice with adolescents" (p. 18).

In closing, looking at standards the NASW has put in place for working with adolescents, it is important to understand that these help guide ones practice with adolescents. These standards are put in place to guide and direct a social worker to more affectively make an impact on an adolescents life. These standards have helped me so far in my field placement in meeting the youth where they are at, and administering change through empowerment in thinking about their actions and what consequences they may have.

References
National Association of Social Workers. (2003). Standards for working with adolescents. Washington, D.C.: NASW Press

Quiet week

This past week was a quiet one for me at my practicum. As I am working with the kids in a day program more, I have been able to talk with them to gain a better understanding of the world they live in. As the program has accepted more people over the last few weeks, we have ran out of computers for everyone to work on the educational software altogether. So, we have began to split them up by gender. We have the kids on the computer for about an hour and half and then the other time, we are in group with them. Some of the girls mentioned that they wanted to talk in group about anger, so on Monday we started talking about anger management. On Tues. the boys were in group first while the ladies worked on A+. The guys continued the conversation from Monday just fine. When the ladies got in group, they did not want to talk about anger any more. I talked with them about how they dealt with situations, and most of them discussed how beating someone up is the way to solve issues. We talked for about an hour on this issue, with them insisting violence was right in solving an issue. Talking with the kids on Tues. helped me realize what reality they live in to. The glamorization of drugs, rap, and guns has led these kids in a path that is unhealthy. The problem, I fear, is that this behavior is encouraged through adults in their lives. On Wednesday, many of the kids kept cussing left and right. I finally asked them if that was the only way they knew how to talk. One kid responded by saying, "yeah, because thats how our mom and dads talk." Adolescents are watching every move people make and negative reinforcement is what they are witnessing. This is the grim reality of what I see in these kids life, the problem is, this is the only way they have seen. My greatest fear is that these kids will end up a product of the cycle, because even someone like myself talking with them does not seem to be doing any good.

Integration question:

HBSE/micro: What theories of development would be useful for you to know about in your field placement?

As I have just been writing about the life my clients are living in to, the best their for me to use with my field placement would be an ecological perspective. I feel this would be best use of theory for me because I could better understand who is making an impact in these kids life. If it is their peers, their family, or their community. The ecological perspective would help allow me to better understand who my clients interact with and to what degree.

Discovering the meaning of practicum

The last few weeks have been an adventure to say the least. Week 7 proved to be no different. when looking at what the word practicum means, the American Heritage Dictionary says that a practicum is "A school or college course, especially one in a specialized field of study, that is designed to give students supervised practical application of previously studied theory" This is not far from the truth!!! The kids T.A.S. works with have been expelled from school and are trying to work their way back in to school. As I wrote the last two weeks, many are there to get off their parole and dont really care about school. Last Monday I was talking with my boss who is also the Executive Director and founder of the organization. I was talking with her about some the kids and their lack of willingness to work. She went in to the computer lab where the kids were working and talked with all of them. There were a number of kids who had been there for a couple of weeks who had not done any work on the educational software. Those kids got booted out of the program. I was also given the oppertunity to confront the kid that I had been having trouble with. This particular kids next step is boy's school. I talked with him about the choices he has been making and how they did not line up with what he said he wanted to accomplish and also what the program is designed to accomplish.

I have been gaining experience on many fronts during this semester. The greatest experience I have gained this semester is gaining an understand of a culture. Of the 10 boys in the program there is only one Caucasian kid. Growing up in Southern Indiana, I was mainly surrounded by Caucasians. SInce moving to Indy in 2001 I have been in an ongoing process of accepting other cultures other than my own. I am by far not racist, but I had never been exposed to a culture other than a farming community. During this semester I have been able to experince a new culture and how to talk with and deal with them.

Research/micro: What has research shown to be the traits a social worker needs to have to engage with a client.
Chang, Scott and Decker says, "As a practitioner, understanding and accepting yourself is an essential beginning to understanding others" (p. 46). I feel that this is an important trait for social workers to understand. When looking at traits, Dictionary.com says that it is "a distinguishing characterisitc or quality" (Dictionary.com). I feel a social worker must understand themselves so they can understand their characteristics in their life that will allow them to advocate for, show empathy for, and work with a certain population on a daily basis. Understanding oneself is important because one will know where they stand on issues and what they need to mprvore in order to advocate for social justice for all.

References

Chang, V. N., Scott, S. T., and Decker, C. (2007). Developing helping skills: A step-by-step approach. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Thomason Learning.

practicum. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved February 26, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/practicum

trait. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved February 26, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/trait

Yet another interesting week

This past week posed yet another interesting week for me in my practicum. I ended up spending my three days in the office working with the teenagers in the day program. As I wrote about last week, I had difficulty with a particular kid talking back and no self-determination.

Monday started off the week ok. Nothing out of the ordinary. Tuesday, however, was when the frustration set in. Like I wrote last week, I feel the kids just do not care about the program, which I feel is a very sad thought. This is their second chance to get back in. I can't say that all the kids don't care. It isn't that they do not care, but that I don't think they understand the magnitude this has on who they can become. Anyway, on Tues, they kids continued to mess around. I was able to keep the kids under control for the most part, pretty much until the last fifteen to twenty minutes.

Wed. is a different story. The day started off ok with the kids working on the educational software. After about a half an hour the kids started to loose focus and became difficult to keep under control. I spoke with a couple of the kids individually, but that did not seem to work. I got to the point of frustration that I told them that if they did not want to work, that was their prerogative, but it would reflect on the amount of work they had done.

This week has gone smoother, but you have to wait until my next post to find out how it has gone :)

Practice/macro: Describe how a social worker can participate at the macro level to impact Human Rights?

A social worker can participate at the macro level to impact Human Rights in many ways. The first thought that comes to mind in working at the macro level is policy. A social worker can advocate for change in policy at a local, state, national, or even world level to affect human rights of all kind. Through advocacy, human rights can be changed and formed into equal oppertunity for all people whether it is dealing with race, religion, ethnic beliefs, socioeconomic status, or even sexuality.
The other way macro level can impact human rights is through funding. Along the lines of policy, funding at the local, state, federal, and world level can help those that need it. Whether it is relief to a third world nation or local funding to alleviate the property tax crisis many homeowners are dealing with here in Indiana, a social worker can advocate for change in how funds are used to better impact Human Rights.

pictures of Lilly

I just wanted to add a couple more pictures of Lilly....hope you enjoy!!

What a frustrating week!!

This past week proved to be one of the hardest so far while I have been here at my practicum. it is kind of ironic that we read a chapter on professional communication because a couple of the kids pushed my right buttons on a number of occasions and I was about two seconds away from using inappropriate language.


It all started on Monday. During the day program here at T.A.S. the kids are to work on an educational tool called A+. There is a particular kid in the program that has been in there for two weeks now and has shown little signs of being able to focus. Last Monday was no different. He continually goofed off and distracted others around him. I gave this particular client redirection on a number of occasions throughout the course of the afternoon. I was starting to be become frustrated with this particular client, but luckily, the duration of the session had ended for the day.


Tuesday then came. I was in charge of the kids on the educational tool for this afternoon. The client that I was getting frustrated with was in this class as well and was still showing a lack of focus. I redirected his focus on a number of occasions with a couple of mumbled responses back under his breath. After some time has passed, this particular client and another client started throwing something at each other, which I addressed. A few minutes has passed and I was working with another client on a question that the educational tool had presented that he did not understand. As I was helping this client, I felt something hit the back of my head. I immediately turned around the client that I had redirected already on a number of occasions was laughing. This made me pretty mad. It took everything within me to refrain from cussing this kid out.


I guess my frustration was in the fact that this client showed no respect for being in this program. The kids the are in this program are here because they have been expelled from school for various reasons. There are quite a few of the kids here in the program that really don't care if they are here or not, which really disheartens me. This program is designed to give these kids a second chance, but many do not care. I geuss the question is asked then, what is done in this situation. I want to reach out to these kids, but how do you reach people if they do not care about changing? Of course the NASW Code of Ethics hits on self-determination, but what about the clients that have no self-determination? I guess as gain hands on experience, I begin to understand the difference between the classroom and the real world....role playing is a heck of a whole lot easier.

Integration question:

Policy/macro: What was your experience at LEAD? What was most valuable? How could your learning experience have been improved?

I really enjoyed LEAD. It was my first time to attend. I really learned alot about advocacy and legislation. I realized that every voice counts when advocating for policy that will help in social justice. Though i thought it was a little corny at first, the most valuable experience for me at LEAD was the scavenger hunt. This was the first time in the state house, so it was good to gain a hands on experience. I feel my learning experience could have been improved by having more breakout sessions. I really enjoyed hearing about the Reinvestment Initiative, but it would have also been good to hear what else was going on in the way of policy in pertaining to other break out sessions.

Weekly hours: 16
Total time 68

Pictures from LEAD

Here are our groups pictures (minus one person) from LEAD....

This was a short week for me, as I only worked on Monday due to my wife being induced for labor on Monday night.

Monday - Though this was the only day I worked in the office, it could be deemed as a good day. The day started out by meeting with my field instructor to go over my learning plan. While my instructor and I worked on the learning plan, I began to understand a little bit more about what is expected of me. I know that sounds wierd to say since I have now been there for a few weeks now, but it allowed me to better understand what I am to be doing. However, now the my problem is being confident in what I am doing, and not allowing my clients to see I am still a little uncomfortable as I learn the ropes.

Practice/micro: How does your personality reflect and influence how you work with clients and coworkers?

I took the personality test today and according to the test, I am a Gaurdian. There were a number of things it said about my personality, many of which I would agree with. The test said "Guardians pride themselves on being dependable, helpful, and hard-working." I would agree with this about me 100%. I feel this will help me in my work with my clients because I have quit a bit of pride in my work. Sometimes I have a difficult time tying up loose ends, but I still have a sense of pride in what I accomplish. One of the things it said about a guardian is that I am dependable. Again, I agree with 100%. I feel I am I am VERY dependable. Again, it goes back to taking pride in what I do. I am very confident in who I am, and my dependability reflects the confidence. I feel this personality trait is important in working with people in a social work role because our clients are coming to us for stability. Stability comes through a sense of dependability. And, through that dependability, they have confidence in what you can do for them as a social worker.

Weekly hours: 6 (due to baby being born)
Hours Total: 52

I wanted to upload a pic of my beautiful little Lillian!

Week Three - still truckin'

This week was a good week in the agency. Here is how it went:

Monday - of course it was MLK Day, and the agency was closed. I did not realize this until I showed up and the receptionist looked at me weird.

Tuesday - I worked at the agency in the day program. I feel I am starting to build some good report with the kids in the program. Most of them are good kids, but there have been a couple that have been a challenge. For the most part, the biggest challenge they present is focusing on working on the educational learning tool. Granted if I was there age, I probably would not want to be there for three hours a day working on educational stuff either. However, Mrs. Lipscomb, the Executive Director, has told them, they were the ones who have put themselves in this situation. Lookinat the NASW Code of Ethics, I feel it could be useful in this situation in working with the kids self-determination to be reinstated back in to the school system. Through this program, they have an oppertunity to earn class credit going back to school while they have been expelled. With that being said, there were a couple of kids who were brought in to the program the week of the 14th. Ever since they have been in the program, they have been wanting to joke, laugh, bother others around them, etc. and not work. My confindence, I feel, increased this past week through talking with them and letting them know that their behavior was not acceptable. I also discussed with them that they have put themself in this situation. If they do not want to work to get back in to school, that is there perogative, but being in this program, they are expected to work on the educational learning tool.

Wednesday - This was a good day, but started off kind of awkward. I was to meet a case worker who I have been shadowing at an elementary school on the west side. I entered the school and went to the main office and asked if the case worker had made it there. They just gave me the more wierd face. This was a good learning expereince for me because it helped build my confidence of meeting people I will be coming in contact with at schools. Anyway, I ended up meeting the case worker at another school. Here, we were able to sit down and talk with the child's primary teacher. The student had moved to a new school and the case worker had not had the oppertunity to meet with the teacher.

Overall - I feel my confidence level is starting to increase. Reading this past weeks chapter on expectations came at a good time. I am the type of person who has kind of a split personality when it comes to doing something new. I feel I want to jump right in and start doing what needs to be done, but at the same time, question what I am doing to make sure I am getting reassurance that I am doing what i am suppose to be doing. This week helped me be reassured that I am new at this and it will take time to build my confidence in what i am doing. Social Work as a whole is new to me, so it has been good to take what I am learning in the classroom and see it play out in real life.

Policy/macro: What Indiana Bills & Resolutions for the Spring 08 Legislative Session are of interest to you personally? What Indiana Bills & Resolutions are of interest to you professionally? Describe their significance to you, your agency, & your clients.

For my clients - The Indiana Bill I thought was of interest for my clients was Senate Bill 0069. The Bill requires employers of a paretn to provide paid leave to the parent for school conferences when the conferences cannot be schduled during the employee's nonworking hours. I feel this would be vary beneficial for the parents of T.A.S.'s clients. Many parents do not meet with the child's teachers because they do not have the time to do so. Single moms trying to raise two or three kids may not have time to come in while the teacher is there, and they probably cannot afford to miss work to meet with the teacher. This bill would require employers to pay their employee's, while giving the parent an oppertunity meet with the teachers.

Bills of interest to me - There are actually two bills of interest to me in the House. They both deal with the same issue, but come from different perspectives. The first bill I read, House Bill 1247, wants to increase the state sales tax on gasoline from 6% to 6.4%. This would increase the gasoline tax from $0.18 per gallon to $0.25 per gallon, a difference of $0.07. This 7 cent increase does not sound like much, but if one does the math, it would be a big increse. For me personally, I fill my tank, on average, every two weeks, generally 14 gallons per fill. This would be an increase of 98 cents per fill. Filling my tank twice a month for twelve months would increase my fuel costs to $23.52. As a poor college student with a new child, that $23.50 is important to me.

The other bill that is of interest to me is House Bill 1330. This bill would eliminate gasoline tax. I geuss they are both of interest to me because I do not understand why there would be two bills in the house that deal with the same issue, and contradict each other. The other thing I do not understand is that the same representative authored both bills two days apart.....does anyone else understand that?

On a personal note, the next time I enter a blog entry I will be a new father!! :)

Weekly hours: 15
Hours to date: 46

New week - new adventures

Second Week - New Adventures

Case Management

The second week was a good one for me. I have started to feel more comfortable with what I am to do in the agency. This past Monday I found out that I will have a "case load" of clients that I will be working with who are in the schools. What I will be doing is observing the kids in the school setting, watching them interact with the teachers and other classmates. I have followed a Case Worker with T.A.S. who has been doing it for over twenty years. I will be working with him since the three kids I will be observing in the classroom are part of his case load. I am excited about this opportunity to work with a veteran in the field. I spent quite a bit of time on Monday and Tues. reviewing the case assessments on the clients I will be observing.

Dr. Perry

The four interns at T.A.S. this semester have been meeting with a psychologist, Dr. Perry on Monday afternoons. Last Monday was the second time we had met with him. He is a very insightful person, and I look forward to meeting with him more as the semester goes on. Like Mr. Thompson, the case manager, I have learned much from Dr. Perry in the just the limited time spent with him. He has been very insightful in working with clients and what to look for in certain situations.

The week as a whole


This past week was a good one for me at the agency. I am becoming more familiar with the people who work there. More importantly, I am becoming more familiar with the clients T.A.S. serves. I have been facilitating the day program that happens at the agency, where kids come in and work on an educational program called A+. What it does is help the kids who have been expelled work on there education. Through this program, these kids can be integrated back in to school with class credit. What I have been observing is the kids and how they interact with the program. When they first come in, they have no motivation to work on it. Then, after two or three days, when they realize that this isn't something to come in and mess around with, they start doing the work. Many of them are actually surprising them self in the fact that they can learn in a safe environment, at there own pace. I will be with these same set of kids throughout the semester as I am in and out of the office (between working on the case load within the school setting) and I am excited to work with them to help them understand that even though society may look at them as troublemakers, they are smart and can do the work. The day program is twelve weeks, so I will be able to work with them until they leave, which I am excited about.

How could doing research for classes impact your relationship with your clients?

I believe that doing research for classes could impact the relationship with my clients by helping me see how I can better communicate with the clients. I am working mainly with kids in the 7-10th grades. Many kids in that age range is still searching who they are. They test the water to see what they can get away with. Many of them are probably in a situation where they do not have a stable, positive influence in their lives. Research would help me understand who to conduct myself with them. It would also help me know how to communicate in a way they can understand me. As I said earlier in this blog entry, these kids are good kids, just misunderstood because no one has taken the time to understand them. So to answer how I feel research would impact my relationship with my clients, I feel research would help me understand how I can interact with them in a way they would appreciate. Not that this is something I have not been trying to do since i have been there, but the kids are mainly a population I have not spent too much time with on a one on one basis.

Practicum hours this week: 14
Practicum hours to date: 32

Week 1

So I am not for sure what to do with this whole blogg thing, because it is something that I have not really done before. But, this is the first one, so here we go.

I am going to write this week on the macro of the agency, since I have not met with a client one on one yet. So, looking at the macro of the agency and the policies that govern it, I turn to the employee handbook which lays out the organizations policies and procedures.

Looking at a policy that is beneficial to the client, I want to discuss section 104 of the employee handbook, which discusses Business Ethics and Conduct. Within this section of the handbook it starts by saying, "The successful business operation and reputation of the agency is built upon the principles of fair dealing and ethical conduct of our employees. Our reputation for integrity and excellence requires careful observance of the spirit and letter of all applicable laws and regulations, as well as a scrupulous regard for the highest standards of conduct and personal integrity." The reason I felt this was an important aspect of the policy of the organization is because it lays a good foundation of how every employee serving the client should conduct themselves. When looking at ethical conduct employees, the client benefits by being treated in a fair and just manner. By having this included in the policy of the organization, not only are they laying out how the company should act or respond, but they are aligning themselves with what the NASW Code of Ethics views as ethical behavior.

When looking at a policy within the organization that could be detrimental to the client, I would like to look at the nature of employment, which is also listed in the employee policy handbook. The policy states, "Employment with the organization is voluntarily entered into, and the employee is free to resign at will at any time, with or without cause. Similarly, the organization may terminate the employment relationship at will at any time, with our without notice or cause, so long as there is not violation of applicable federal or state law." This could could be detrimental to the client for a number of reasons, but the reason I bring this policy up is because the clients the organization serves are kids who may or may not have a stable, positive person in their life. Though this policy is not stating the organization would fire someone for no good reason, the idea of firing at will could be a big blow to kids who are in an unstable environment.

I could not really think of any other policies that would be detrimental to the client, but since no governing entity is perfect, I am sure as time goes on in the semester, one or two may make themselves known. As for this week, thats all I have.