Week 1: My Goals

Well this week marked the actual beginning of my internship and I now have a better idea of what my semester may look like so I have thought of a few goals I would like to achieve. The first of these goals would be to establish good connections within the adoption services community. I would like to do this because as I am learning there are a very limited amount of jobs out there and if I can have some insider connections it could help me get a job when I am done with school and need the assistance. Another goal I have is to master the skill of writing a home study. Well maybe not master it but get a good feel for how to do it so that I have that skill for the future when I enter the workforce. A goal I have for the class part of the internship would be to document in my work logs as much as possible so that I have an excellent collection to put into a portfolio. I also would like to do this because in the first two days at my internship I have heard the phrase, “Make sure you document that,” enough times that I now see the true importance of being on top of that. And my last goal would be to become knowledgeable in not just my supervisors position, but also get a basic knowledge of what other people do at Lutheran Social Services as well. Dawn took me around to meet the staff the other day and a lot of people offered to be interviewed about their positions as well as take me along on some of their visits and job experiences. Everyone seems really nice and I can’t wait to get to know everyone a little better. As far as importance goes, I have them listed as how important they are to me. Networking first, then home study skills, good work log documentation, and lastly obtain knowledge in related fields in the agency. Now as far as this week has been going, it has been going awesome! On Monday I was able to go along with Dawn on a home visit and it was a great experience talking to a family. Tuesday I was able to sit in on a staff phone conference and also a panel review. Thursday I am going to a state staff meeting with Dawn to meet other adoption workers in the state so that should help me with goal 1! I’m so excited! I can tell that Dawn will be an excellent supervisor and she is making sure I get the most out of this internship. Well that’s about all I have now so I will give you an update next week.