Skip to main content
AdoptionCampus LifeFoster CareUncategorized

National Social Work Day

By March 16, 2023No Comments

In March, we celebrate Social Work Month. Social workers have an integral role to play in many fields, including medical, clinical, gerontology, and family/children. Regardless of the field, social work requires professionals to willingly step into the lives of the hurting and vulnerable. This profession can easily be summed up as a helping profession. Social workers make up the child welfare system and TBHC staff. They advocate and support foster/adoptive parents and children. Without social workers at TBHC, it would be impossible to further our ministry.

Characteristics of TBHC Social Workers

Passionate
Serving children in care and foster/adoptive families without a passion for serving others is challenging. TBHC staff are eager to step into the hard and offer support to their families. Ultimately, you’ll see their love for Christ spurring them on because they know that they serving a greater purpose. That purpose is to glorify God and to serve others.
Empathetic
Social workers must be able to look at situations and understand how differing experiences, cultures, perspectives, and worldviews are working together. Case managers must be able to look at each new case through different lenses. TBHC case managers are sensitive to all perspectives, including the different emotions and experiences of foster/adoptive children, biological families, foster parents, and adoptive parents. Without empathy, our staff would be unable to work with others effectively.
Advocator
Social workers are their clients’ best advocators. There are a number of ways that TBHC case managers advocate for their families and children. They attend ARD meetings at school, develop service plans for children, play a role in service team meetings, plan for support team meetings, and so much more. This short list of examples reveals that case managers advocate and support their foster/adoptive parents and do the same for children in care.

It’s important to note that if social workers do not care for themselves as much as they care for others, they are in danger of seeing a decline in their mental health. You hear it often said that “you can’t pour into another person’s cup if yours isn’t overflowing” and “you can’t put on a child’s oxygen mask without putting your own on first”. It’s true, yet, actively practicing self-care can be challenging. Listed below, you will find a few practical ways that social workers can intentionally practice self-care and others can support family and friends in this profession.

Characteristics of TBHC Social Workers

Ways to Support a Social Worker
• Offer to cook a meal or clean their house
• Spend quality time
• Actively and intentionally affirm them
• Check-in on a consistent basis
• If the social worker is a parent, offer to babysit so that they can have a date night or have alone time
• Be willing to listen and offer support when needed
• Pray, pray, pray!
Self-Care Ideas for Social Workers
• Do something that you love
• Go for a walk or exercise
• Spend time with family and friends
• Pray/Bible study
• Learn a new skill/hobby
• Read a book
• Go on a trip/vacation

written by: Olivia B.

Leave a Reply