Tuesday, March 5, 2019

HUG A SOCIAL WORKER - March is National Social Work Month

I spend a large part of my week helping singles and couples create or enlarge their families. This includes exploration of adoption options, alleviating anxieties, guiding them through every day parenting and educating extended family members.  I also consult with colleagues.  I serve on the boards of several adoption and fertility organizations and donate my time to local adoptive parent support groups. Every week, I visit homes for homestudy interviews and meet new children at post placement visits. 

In training the new generation of social workers, I have taught not only the specifics of adoption work, but the sensitivity needed to work with adoptive and birth parents, their children, extended family members and communities. How we talk and interact with others is critical.  In addition to providing information, we also must allow our clients space for self-determination and choice.

Not everyone likes their job. I love mine. Adoption is part of my soul.  It’s not only the way I have earned a living for the past 33 years, but also the way I have built my own family.

If I have been involved in your adoption, I hope I have been helpful in supporting your journey to parenthood. If you have worked with another social worker, I hope they have provided whatever support and information you may have needed.

As I always tell those I work with, I am here, today, tomorrow and in the years to come. Adoption adds a layer of complexity to any family. If you ever have a question, wonder if something is adoption related or just need someone to listen or a shoulder to lean on, I am here for you. Perhaps, that’s why there is often a hug at the end of many of my family visits.

Kathy Ann Brodsky, LCSW is a New York and New Jersey licensed social worker, adoptive mom and advocate for ethical adoption practice. Through her private practice and agency affiliations, she has prepared  thousands of adoption  homestudies, counseled  expectant, birth, pre/post adoptive parents and  adopted  persons, as  well  as trained  professionals  to  work  with  adoptive  families. She  was Director of the  Ametz  Adoption  Program of  JCCA and a member of the Advisory Board for POV’s Adoption  Series and the  Adoption  Advisory  Board  of  Path2Parenthood, She is currently a  Adoption   Professional   Advisory  Council  of  HelpUSAdopt , a member of the Advisory Board of the Family Equality Council and  active  in  the  Adoptive Parents Committee in  New  York.  Her  blogs  and  written contributions can be seen throughout the Internet, including  her  BLOG  and  as  Head  Writer  for  ADOPTION.NET   She  was  named  an  “Angel in Adoption” by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption in 2001. You can reach her directly EMAIL