A DAY IN THE LIFE OF FAMILY & CHILDREN SERVICES
6:45am - A Respite Worker wakes a 7 year old boy with Oppositional Defiant Disorder to get ready for school. He just stayed four overnights because his Mother had surgery and based on his behaviors, family and friends were not willing to care for him.
7:15 am – The Respite van leaves Lake Street to take 3 children, ages 7-9 to Washington and Arcadia Elementary Schools. Overnight respite staff prepared their lunches and help organize their backpacks.
8:15 am – Mobile Crisis responds to a call from the Guidance Counselor at Kalamazoo Central High
School. A 15 yo girl arrived with cuts on her arms and told her teacher there was nothing worth living for.
9:30 am – Children’s Protective Services Worker calls Families First with a referral. In a police raid, crystal meth and drug paraphernalia were seized, found in the bedroom where a mother and her two-year girl sleep. The house is filthy and recently condemned by the city. The CPS worker orders both parents to have a complete drug assessment and participate in drug screens. The family is ordered to leave the home until the environment is made safe. A Families First worker is assigned and meets with both parents and the CPS worker at 3:30 that afternoon.
10:00
am – Two Foster Care and Adoption workers attend a Release
Hearing for 6–year-old twins and their 4-year old brother along
with birth parents, grandparents, the initial foster and
current
foster/adoptive parents. The Release Hearing was requested by
the birth parents who have decided to release their parental
rights for the children rather than have them testify at a
termination hearing regarding the sexual abuse they experienced
in the home.
10:30 am – FACT worker signs out “high risk location” before leaving for the first family home visit where a father has just returned from jail on his most recent domestic violence charge. The worker checks in with her supervisor at 11:45 after leaving the home to inform of successful meeting. Goals were set including individual therapy for Dad, weekly parenting and family sessions, and developing a family and individual safety plan for Mom.
11:00 am - Treatment Team Meeting at Woods Lake Elementary with the outpatient counselor, foster care worker and foster parent, respite staff, MCR staff, family, building Principal and special education teacher to review progress on goals and develop creative solutions and a crisis plan to keep a 9 yo in school throughout the day.
12:00 pm - Psychiatrist, Dr. Bedi hurries through the Agency reception area, stopping to pick up his first client. From 12:00 -1:00 he will see clients continuously then return to his job as Medical Director of Community Mental Health. During the hour, Dr. Bedi will provide psychiatric services to four clients and call in medications for five others. All of these clients desperately need this service.
12:30
pm - A foster mother and foster care worker meet biological
grandparents of 6 and 8-year-old boys for lunch to assure them
that the court will allow continued visitation with their
grandchildren in the foster home. The boys were removed due to
parental neglect and chronic homelessness. The mother of the two
boys has mental illness and a substance abuse history. The
grandparents, distraught over this legal situation, are grateful
for the support and counsel. They have questions about the
formal process of becoming a relative placement for their
grandsons.
1:00 pm – Two FACT workers respond to a high-risk client’s home. Mother needs to be screened for hospitalization as she is threatening to kill herself. She has been struggling to parent her three children, all diagnosed with a mental illness. One worker meets with the mother to assess and develop a safety plan while the other further evaluates the children to assess their current functioning and arranges for Crisis Respite for all three children.
3:30 pm – A Supervised Parenting Time visit occurs between two pre-teens and their father through an arrangement with The Friend of the Court. A Foster Care worker behind a two-way observation mirror monitors the visit while a security guard, on duty due to violent behavior between the estranged parents, supervises the exchange in the lobby.
4:15 pm - A CLST Worker carries sports equipment down the hall on her way to pick up a child for a sports program at the Respite Activity Center.
5:00 pm – Respite Worker arrives with a 16 year old child to go swimming in the Respite pool. This child has cerebral palsy and is in a wheelchair. The barrier-free pool allows him the freedom of movement he does not normally experience.
6:00 pm - Case Management worker facilitates meeting with a 22 yo consumer and his parents after two years of no contact. The consumer has requested this meeting as part of his recovery from drug addiction and management of his bi-polar disorder.
6:30
pm - A home visit is
occurring with a foster care worker and two sets of foster
parents to discuss the future placement of a 10-year-old boy
whose foster placement is disrupting due to sexual acting out
behaviors not previously identified at time of placement. The
placement has placed three previously adopted pre-school
siblings at risk. The boy needs constant supervision. This team
will consider replacement in the veteran foster home where there
are no other children. Both families and the foster care worker
will create transition and visitation plans for the boy. 
7:00 pm – A Counseling Center therapist picks up an 18 yo who has Bi-Polar Disorder. The teen left a very sheltered life with her low-income family in Alabama to marry. Her new husband convinced her to move to Michigan, and shortly after, became verbally and physically abusive. The counselor has worked with the young woman for 6 months helping her recognize the dynamics of an abusive relationship and teaching her to trust her instincts and explore her options. Julie now understands that she needs to leave but has no job or income. The worker has requested HANDLE WITH CARE funds to purchase a bus ticket home to Julie’s family in Alabama so that she can escape this abusive relationship.
7:45 pm - A CLST Worker returns with fishing poles in hand after mentoring a 13 yo boy that he has mentored for a year. It is an important relationship because the boy benefits from a male role model since he gets little attention as one of six children in a single parent home.
2:00 am - A new day has begun. The Mobile Crisis Response pager goes off. Police are requesting mental health assistance in the home of a 17 yo male experiencing his first psychotic episode. He is hearing ‘voices’ and has assaulted his mother and a neighbor. Two MCR workers respond arriving at 2:25 am and work with the police to ensure the safety of family members and the neighbor, provide debriefing and support for the mother, coordinate a hospital admission for the young man, and call the agency to make a referral to Young Adult Case Management Services upon his discharge.
