Why did you choose to work at Youth Villages?
I had a very positive experience as an Intern. I liked the message that Youth Villages promotes. The values the organization operates by coincide with my personal values, so it was a great match.

Have you held more than one position at Youth Villages?
I started as an intern at the Dogwood Campus and after finishing my master’s degree I came to Therapeutic Foster Care.

What does a typical day in foster care look like for you?
It is hard to say what a typical day consists of because I work with so many different people, and people can be very unpredictable. The best way to describe it is that we spend our days helping children and families live successfully any way that we can. But typically, I go to see the children on my caseload at their school or foster home. I also have family sessions with children’s biological families when the step-down plan is to reunify the child and family, which, by the way, is always our goal. We go out of our way to find anyone in a child’s family willing to take the child and work with us if the parents are not a viable option. I also meet with case workers from the Department of Children’s Services.

What do you like about your job?
The thing I love most about my job is that I get to meet children in a variety of locations and be part of their lives. I don’t just meet them in an office but go to their schools, see their homes, and I meet their biological family as well. I get to truly see the complete makeup of the child’s life. I also like that I recently had to chance to create a new program to provide extra support to children in foster care.

What was it like starting out in foster care?
It was challenging trying to adjust to driving around Memphis and learning the area. We spend a great deal of time driving from place to place, and when you don’t know where you are going, it can be very frustrating. That is why I now have a GPS! Another challenge was learning that some the smallest successes tend to become the biggest successes. I learned that all the small stuff that gets accomplished by the children really adds up in the end. But you have to be patient and look at the big picture.

Do you have any advice for someone considering to work at Youth Villages?
If you are looking for a job that is meaningful and where you can make a positive contribution to the lives of others, this is the place to work.

What does a success at work look like for you?
 Having the opportunity to create a new program that helps build skills, such as developing the Job Development Program for foster kids. We actually see the positive results.

What has been the most rewarding experience so far at Youth Villages?
The adoption of one of my foster children. He had a very difficult life, but when he was matched with a certain foster family, he found that the family was sticking by him no matter what. There were many times when he was ready to give up on the family, but they wouldn’t give up on him. Instead, they adopted him, and he now is the happy member of a very loving family.