A long day for a Social Work Intern

Today I went in for my pracitcum like normal to the elementary school. . . well it turned into one long day with some other suprises. I found out this morning that I would be there untill at least 7:00 because there was a parent teacher organization meeting tonight at 6. Okay no big deal that should be interesting I am supposed to go to those anyway. Later that morning we find out from one of the kindergarten teachers that one of her boys is in the office because he had a big noticeable bruise. He also apparently told her that his parents were doing this to him and that they smoked a lot and used him as their ash tray in a matter of words! Well, later on I was a witness to hearing the boy tell this to the principal after he tried to lie about it. Well we hotlined, at the school, the correct people to contact about this kind of thing to come on out and investigate into it. Well, they never showed up untill after dismissal and the boy's dad came and found out we were holding his son. Well, this turned out to be an awkward position to be in for me, my field instructor, and the principal. The man kind of made me a little scared about how he acted at one point I moved so that I was closer to the door so I could leave if I had too. It was a very quiet twenty or thirty minutes untill the official came but it was intense at the same time! Then the boy's mother came in, the wife, and the husband didn't really talk to her. He told us that because of the situation if he finds out that his wife was hurting his son he would take the kids and leave her. Well, they ended up taking the son home, but the worker that came for the investigation said he wasn't done. He was suspicious for the same reasons we were after observing the father and how he acted and also the mother too. I pray that nothing happens!

*As you probably know I left a lot of things out and changed some major facts of this story for confidentiality reasons. Plus, it is my ethical responsibility as a social worker.


Then the meeting tonight that in the past has only gotten six or seven parents to come too, well tonight there were over 80 people. I was supposed to go to this meeting but I had to help watch the kids while all the parents were in the meeting. That was a blast because we also had pizza and drinks to take care of! It was so hot in the building too, and it started late so it didn't end untill about 7:30. I left finally tonight at about five till 8:00. I am exhausted and I have class all day tomorrow!
Oh well thats life right. . .