It’s the Children.

Since entering the field of social work, I’ve worked with a lot of different groups of people. Homeless. Poor. Community organizers. Mentally ill. Children.

I have learned an incredible amount from all of these groups. About myself, about life, about how to be a good social worker. How to be a better person. But the one I’ve probably learned the most from? It’s the children, of course.

The ones who know more about the adult world than they should. Whose eyes tell stories of abuse, neglect, stolen innocence and insecurity. The children who have hidden under my desk because they feel so unsafe in their world, have cried long withheld tears in my presence, have shared secrets that they trusted no one else to respond safely to.

The children who surprise me at every turn with their strength, their capacity to endure, their ability to learn how to trust the world again.

The children who forgive the unforgivable, who love purely and unconditionally.

The children who make me laugh with their questions, their blunt replies, their honesty, their willingness to share what’s on their mind.

I feel honored most days to be doing the work I do. To be witness to the stories that children have to tell. To be able to offer some relief, some ways to manage and cope with what they have seen, heard, felt, and experienced.

I never intended to be working with children when I entered the social work field, but I do truly believe that I was meant to be doing this at this time in my life. I had lessons to learn from the 100+ children I’ve met in the last three years, and I’m doing my best to listen, and to learn… even when it’s hard, even when I leave my office crying at night, even when I don’t want to listen or feel anymore. Because I’ve learned, from these amazing children, that when it’s the most hard? That’s the time to keep trying, to keep going, to keep believing, to not give up. Children have many lessons to teach us, we just need to listen.