The Heart of a Social Worker
Our friend Chandler was generous to share his story about how the loving support of his grandmothers “infused” him with a desire to help the vulnerable. His story is an incredible testament to the power of love and hope redeeming broken places. Thank you Chandler!
This conversation took place at Purcellville Baptist Church in observation of Orphan Sunday.
Key Moments + Quotes
Where are you from? What's your heart for this?
Chandler tells us how he was impacted by being raised by his grandmothers. His grandmother (affectionately known as LBH) had a pulse on her community and infected it with her love for young people who didn’t have a home or didn’t have a place to go.
I grew up around a lot of crime and violence daily. I know because of those two women, I’m still here today. They were some praying sisters.
Chandler says this “infused” him at an early age. He knew he wanted to help. After college, he found a job at a women’s shelter, which led to another job down the road at a gang prevention program. From here, his mission became about helping kids find stability.
This became my life. Experiencing kids going through violent moments, I knew trying to stabilize families became everything to me. Even though I didn’t have my parents, I had two women who were my stabilizing foundation. Before I met Christ, they were my foundation and that was really important to me to see young boys and girls have stabilization in their lives.
What does the process look like? How does a kid come into DFS?
“If there’s situation where a child needs to be immediately removed, a placement coordinator is responsible for reaching out to our foster parents in the Loudoun county community. We’re hoping they accept these children in their home. But a lot of times, we have issues with that.”
We have a lot of families, but not a lot of families are willing to accept certain cases.
The Biggest Needs
We really have a challenging task at placing teenagers. Many people want babies - but it’s not the need.
What is the state of children when they come to you?
Some kids come with trash bags. That is the worst feeling in the world. Whenever I had to remove a kid, I tried to have duffle bags ready for kids. Kids already know what trash bags are for. So now, not only are they being removed, but “I’m trash.” Mentally and emotionally, that’s who I am.
How would you give counsel a church who wants to make a difference?
“First of all, know your limits. Everybody is not called to foster. I am one of them. I found out early that I wouldn’t be able to foster. So, of course, I’m a worker.”
Workers. They need your love, respect, and attention. The job is a lot. Workers want to know that they’re appreciated.
Chandler offered three thoughts:
Everyone should not foster. And that’s okay. Don’t feel bad about that. But everyone can help.
We do need foster parents. But we need foster parents who are willing to go the distance. Kids are not going to come in a pretty package.
Support for birth families is going to be essential. We need wrap around care for families who are about to receive their children back with them.
