Field Placement Report

Sarah Dubicki

Field Placement Report

Wayne State University

SW 4441

Due 11/13/2013

Field Placement Report

Bethany Christian Services is where I have been assigned for my field placement. Bethany is a nonprofit, global agency. At this time, Bethany services children in five continents, and is also the largest adoption agency in the United States. Founded in 1944, Bethany Christian Services mission is to demonstrate the love and compassion of Jesus Christ by protecting and enhancing the lives of children and families through quality social services ("Mission Statement | Bethany Christian Services").

Bethany Christian Services (which will be referred to as BCS) provides services to a diverse population. Some of the types of people you would see being serviced by BCS include foster parents, biological parents in the process of reunification with their children, individuals adopting internationally, relatives or foster parents in the process of adopting children whos parents rights have been terminated, birth parents in the process of relinquishing rights, women who are giving their unborn child up for adoption, teenagers, etc. However the population serviced here is diverse in more ways than that. The people working with Bethany come from every type of race, financial state, education level, age, and background possible. Bethany has workers in in Foster Care, Foster Care Adoption, Domestic Adoption, International Adoption, and also has a new teen outreach program.

I am an intern for the Foster Care Adoption team. That means that I work specifically with that team, and have very limited interaction with the other teams. I spend my time mostly on a computer, writing drafts of reports, using the information in whatever file I am working on or from the case workers notes. I then have to summarize the available information in a way that is not only nonjudgmental, but concise. I also need to remember to keep the identifying information confidential (which is something that I struggled with at first). In this way I have

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worked on Child Adoption Assessments, Adoptive Family Addendums, Quarterly Adoption Progress Reports, as well as Post Termination Review reports. When I finish reports, I turn them in for the adoption worker or my supervisor to go over, and add whatever personal recommendations they need. They also add whatever information I did not have access to, or could not yet find. Not only do I write reports, but if there is missing information I help to try and locate it. This may involve calling references to update information, finding documents that may have been misfiled, and mailing forms. I also just finished helping the Foster Care Adoption team with their audit, which was no easy task as it was five weeks early and they needed a great deal of help preparing and locating missing information.

I am also expected to shadow whenever I can. This could be going to court, a home visit, anything. I try to make myself available to the workers whenever possible. At this time I have not had the opportunity to attend a court hearing, but I have gone on three home visits. I find the home visits to be educational and interesting. I truly enjoy meeting the people whos cases I have read and worked on, and watching the workers interact with their clients. Even though I have only gone on three home visits, I find that I have already learned a lot about what is expected of a Foster Care Worker, just by observing.

When it comes to the different disciplines offered through Bethany, I have only worked in one area outside Foster Care Adoption, and only in a limited way. I have helped with licensing for potential adoptive and/or foster families. In these situations, I work on the Initial Foster/Adoption Home Evaluations. These forms take a lot of information into account, and can take a day or two (or in some situations, up to three). The work I do for licensing takes a backseat to the work I do for the Foster Care Adoption team, and that is one of the reasons it

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takes me longer to finish those reports. As with the Foster Care Adoption reports, the licensing worker takes my draft and adds whatever possible information, and then fills the missing pieces in on their next visit.

That being said, I have not yet had the opportunity to work with any of them. However, my manager and I have discussed my helping the International and Domestic adoption teams as well as the Foster Care team when needed. Last I was informed; she was still working on seeing if or when they need my help.

I do not know how people enter, progress, or leave the disciplines other than the Foster Care Adoption side of Bethany, so that is what I will be focusing on. When parental rights have been terminated, or when they have signed their childrens rights away, this is when children enter our side of Bethany. These children are evaluated mentally, physically, and emotionally. After they are assessed, a Child Adoption Assessment is written. This document will become available to the child after the age of 18. In it, we are to describe how the child entered care, and significant past information on the birth parents. The information on the birth parents includes: siblings, illness, any delays, etc. It is an exhaustive packet of information, but it is vital that the identifying information stay confidential. No names, schools, work places, cities, etc. are to be mentioned. These forms are made available to the adopting parents, so this information needs to be kept private to protect those involved.

Sometimes these children have relatives, or foster parents that have expressed interest in adoption. If not, recruitment efforts are begun and the children are listed on the Michigan Adoption Resource Exchange (or MARE). While on MARE, potential adoptive families are able to browse children waiting for forever homes, and they can then contact the case worker in

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regards to adoption. The child is introduced to the family, and if things continue to go well, the child is granted visits with the family which can then progress to overnights, and weekends. Eventually if all the paperwork is done, and the family is a good match, the family can adopt the child, and the process is done. As a whole, this process can be as quick as a six months, but the norm is eight to twelve. The child and family are then still eligible for service, but their process here on the Foster Care Adoption side is finished.

If the family is not a good fit, the child is taken off hold on MARE, and the process begins again. If the child doesnt get enquiries, the worker must take more steps for recruitment, and this can take a long time. I have not yet worked on a case such as this, so I am not familiar with the extra recruitment methods used by the workers.

Prospective adoption parents must go through a slightly similar process. Relative adoptions, foster care adoptions, and adoptive matches found through MARE all must go through the same process in order to complete the adoption. First the people interested in adoption must fill out an application for adoption. After the application, they have many forms to fill out. These include the adoptive parent survey, references to provide (minimum of three), background checks to complete, fingerprinting requests, local police clearances to request, training classes to attend, etc. The information encompasses all parts of their life. They must provide information on their childhood, past and current relationships, etc. All of this information is kept confidential; however it needs to be on file in order for a worker to make their recommendation.

Once the information is gathered and combined, the worker must write the reports, as well as going on multiple visits to determine if the placement is a good match, which will enable

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the child in question to grow and thrive. The worker must also go to court every ninety days for the Post Termination Review. This meeting takes place with the GAL (Guardian Ad Litem), the foster care worker on the case, as well as the adoption worker. These meetings also provide everyone involved in the case with the most updated information and allow them to share concerns if there are any. The worker makes a recommendation on the case, if they believe the placement is appropriate and in the best interest, and then the case is out of the workers hand. They send the information to the Michigan Childrens Institute (or MCI), who then makes the final decision. Just because a worker recommends a certain family to adopt a certain child, does not mean the MCI will go their way.

My placement is dedicated to helping the community around them as long as it involves one of the disciplines listed above. There is not a lot of separate community service involved, or things like that. But such there is such a diversity in the population served, that Bethany is working towards the betterment of all people. The mission statement shared above shows Bethany Christian Services willingness to protect children and families and it is dedicated to doing so by sharing the love of Jesus Christ. Its commitment to the community is clear in the dedicated work that the workers do, and how they go over and above in their services to help their clients. In my time at Bethany, I have seen the workers stay late to finish reports, spend extra time on the phone with clients, etc. The workers do everything in their power to help their clients and I have not worked with a more dedicated group of people in my entire working career.

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References Mission Statement | Bethany Christian Services. (n.d.). Retrieved November 10, 2013, from http://www.bethany.org/main/mission-statement