We got the news. Another new caseworker. "Tomorrow is my last day." How many times have we heard that? I think I wrote this meditation four caseworkers ago. It is still true. Here we go again.
A New Caseworker
The phone call came today. Another caseworker leaving. Another new caseworker. Another person to catch up to speed, to get to know these children, to get to know me, to get to trust me. Anger and frustration are so easy, so tempting. Help me remember what their job must be. Help me imagine how devastating it must be to be responsible for removing children from a home, for inflicting that emotional pain, no matter what the circumstances. Bless these caseworkers and the work they do. Give them the energy and compassion to do it well. When one seems disinterested, disconnected from these children, remind me how painful it must be to get emotionally involved with each child, and how heavy their caseloads can be. When one seems involved and supportive, remind me to thank them, to encourage them, to celebrate them. Bless the former caseworker and bless the new one we have yet to meet. Bless the ones we have never met both here and around the country. Bless them all.
Excerpted from "The Caring Heart Speaks: Meditations for foster, kinship, and adoptive parents" by Gail Underwood Parker Artwork by Anna Parker David from the book cover.
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