Week 8

February 27-March 3

This was another quiet week at the office. I spent Monday working on my semester

project; however, I was having trouble with Canva, so I have had to come up with creative

solutions to my issues. Instead of uploading all of my data into Canva and having it make

infographics for me, I input the data into Excel, and I made charts on there, so I can more easily

manipulate the data and the appearance of the graphs.

Tuesday morning, we had three siblings come to The Bright House for a forensic

interview. They had come to the office late last year for an interview, however, only one sibling

disclosed information about their legal guardian, so only he was removed from the house.

However, the children who remained in the house have continued to be abused, and one of their

teachers reported their case to law enforcement, and they returned to us for another interview.

According to Shelley, they were very coached during their interview, however, their new case

worker noted that even if they did not disclose anything, they are being noticeably abused, and

they are being coached on what to say during their interview. The children have been taken away

from their legal guardian, however, finding a foster home for three children of different genders

is very difficult, and they will most likely be separated.

This case is an example of the best and worst of DFCS, as their first case worker returned

three out of four children to a home that was abusing them. However, now that they have

returned and they have a different case worker, even though they didn’t disclose anything, she

fought to separate them from their abusive legal guardian and ensure they are safe. Although it is

nearly impossible to keep them together, keeping them safe is the most important.
 That afternoon, Shelley got a message from the Houston director of The Bright House,

telling her to return all the offices that we moved last week back to how they were before.

Although Antoinette tried to fight this, because the bigger space was much more conducive to

high quality therapy, we had to move all the furniture back to place Tuesday afternoon and

Wednesday morning.

Wednesday, in addition to moving furniture, I asked Shelley about what it would take to

also become a child advocate and if she knows of any career opportunities available in the area.

She told me that if I wanted to work with The Bright House or Southern Crescent, I would need

to also be cross trained as a forensic interviewer, which involves a one-week, intensive course

with an exam at the end. Additionally, I would have to do a number of unpaid interviews,

working first with older children, then people with developmental disabilities, then with younger

children and toddlers. However, after looking, neither organization is currently hiring child

advocates, at least not publicly. I did look up another job that she told me about, a volunteer

coordinator position in Atlanta, which I applied for.

Thursday, we had a four-year-old come in for a medical exam and an interview. I greeted

her and her legal guardian at the door, but she was very shy, so she sat with her guardian while

she and Shelley filled out paperwork. I also got to put my IT skills to work, as the computer in

the conference room was not working, so I reached out to my dad, and he pointed me in the right

direction. We had a four year old come in for an interview and a medical exam. Her mother

signed all of the papers up front, so we didn’t have to sit with her then, however, after the

interview and exam, the DFCS worker and the girl’s mother continued to speak in the lobby,

however, Antoinette asked Camden and me to play with her in the lobby to keep her occupied for

the 20–30-minute conversation. She played very differently than the other children I have
worked with, instead of playing with us, she more bossed us around. However, I went along with

it, because I know it is important to give her a sense of power and control.

Friday was Employee Appreciation Day at The Bright House, so all of the Friday staff

was given a half day, and Shelley only came in to complete a mandatory training, so I would

have been sitting in the office doing nothing. Therefore, I took the opportunity to meet with my

contact at Gamma Sigma Sigma, and I updated her on the progress of the trifold. I also went to

the GIVE Center office, so I could assess the materials I can access through them, so I do not

need to use excess resources and expenses.

Every day this week was very different from the one before it, however, this provided a

lot of learning opportunities. I think asking Shelley about job opportunities in the field of child

advocacy helped solidify the idea that I am at The Bright House because I genuinely want to

learn about the field, and I am not just there to fulfill a credit requirement. Additionally, I got to

learn more about how different children play and what that could mean for their situation. I

would be interested to watch her interview and learn more about her situation next week.
 Date In Lunch Out Hours Worked
Monday WORKING
9:00 AM 5:00PM 8
February 27 LUNCH
Tuesday
9:00 AM 1:00-2:00 PM 5:00PM 7
February 28
Wednesday
9:00AM 1:00-2:00 PM 5:00PM 7
March 1
Thursday WORKING
9:30AM 5:00PM 8
March 2 LUNCH
Friday
9:00AM 1:00PM 4
March 3
Weekly Hours 34
Total Hours to 254
Date