I Make A Difference Moment
I was assigned this case April 7th, 2020 right in the middle of COVID-19 lock down. When the client and I first started working together, the visits were through phone calls with her 3 children. The calls were good but the client could not see her children or what they were doing, so she relied a lot of the oldest, who was 7 to tell her what he was doing and what the other two children were up to since they were both under 4.
After the phone calls, the client always mentioned to our staff how she missed her children so much and she wanted to see them. Our staff reassured her that she did a great job with each visit under these unusual circumstances and that her children appreciate that she is always there every week. After about a month of phone calls, the foster parents obtained a video phone and we started using zoom for the visits, which was better because the client could see her children and what they were doing but still had its downfalls.
The limits were that the client could only see what was happening that was being filmed by the foster parent. It is also hard to film 3 children playing and running around trying to get them to participate in a call that they don’t quite understand.
Now that our state has resumed face-to-face visits by implementing many rules and safety precautions to follow, the client is glad to be able to see her children after 3 months of virtual communication. This client has always been willing to work with our staff to find time to participate in services even though she works a full-time job and takes care of an ailing parent.
Our staff have worked together with the client, foster parents, the Community Mental Health worker and others to help our client maintain their visits with their children during the “Stay Home Order”. The agencies serving this client have worked together collaboratively to provide her with the parent education lessons that will help her succeed. We have seen the client’s willingness to learn and implement these lessons. We are glad to be able to help these parents and children.
