It’s difficult to describe a day in the life of a Hope Cottage Intern because every day is different! That is one of the many things that I love about working at Hope Cottage. On any given day I can be found working in one or all of the three main programs including infant adoption, foster to adopt, and training and education.
In the infant adoption program I might be meeting with prospective adoptive parents for an orientation, meeting with a birth mother and educating her on the adoption option or providing her with case management services.
In the foster to adopt program I might be heading out for a monthly home visit with our foster parents that have an adoptive placement in their home, working on a home study, or writing up service plans for the children in our care.
In the training and education program I might be calling community partners to invite them to a CEU training on the basics of infant adoption or presenting programs to high school students on teen pregnancy, good decision making, and the ABCs of Adoption.
One of the most rewarding experiences I have been a part of is helping to develop our new parenting assistance program. We recently received state funding to provide more services to our birth mothers who choose to parent. In the past we haven’t been able to serve them as adequately as we would have liked and this new program allows us to do that. I have worked closely with the other intern, Taylor, to build this program from the ground up. We have developed new policies and procedures, updated the existing intake form and needs assessment, and created a brand new service plan to aide in case management services. We are now working on community outreach so we can partner with other agencies in the community to better serve these women in crisis.
It has been an exciting process to be a part of and I am eager to see where this new program takes Hope Cottage and how it will better serve the women we work with. As you can see, my time as an intern at Hope Cottage has been very busy but it has been filled with learning experiences that I will take with me throughout my social work career.
Today’s blogpost was written by Kathryn Sherwood, Adoption Intern.
Hope Cottage is the oldest nonprofit, non sectarian adoption agency in Dallas. Since 1918 Hope Cottage has been building and nurturing strong families through counseling, education and adoption services.
If you have questions about adoption, please call Hope Cottage at 214.526.8721.
If you are a woman facing an unplanned pregnancy and would like to talk to someone about adoption, please call Hope Cottage at 1.800.944.4464 or 214.404.4546.
