Today, we meet our new Master’s of Social Work (MSW) Intern for the year ~ Stephanie Velez, MSW. She will be graduating form a BA/MSW dual degree program from the State University of New York at Buffalo next year. Stephanie’s previous professional experiences include working in the Buffalo Public School District with the Committee of Special Education and the Student Support Team at BPS 76. As a bilingual second year MSW student, Stephanie is excited to apply her knowledge and skills to helping the clients that Adoption STAR works with. Stephanie wrote the following blog post after completing the first few weeks of her internship here at our agency.
Resiliency is a word that my social worker told me I had when I was in high school. She told me that people who are resilient always prosper. You never seem to understand the meaning of resiliency until you have no choice but to be resilient. Now, almost ten years later, I continue to push myself through whatever adversity comes my way and I find this to also be a common goal at Adoption STAR, at all levels of the agency.
Whether we are working with expectant/birth parents or adoptive parents, our agency helps provide all types of support at all levels of the adoption process. No matter what the reason is for people to contact Adoption STAR, our main goal is to educate our families and support them through a very difficult (if not the hardest) decision of placing and adopting.
Interning at Adoption STAR has given me the opportunity to meet and work with resilient and heroic families throughout their adoption processes. A hero to me is a person who is willing to put the needs of others before their own and this is a characteristic that Adoption STAR families hold true. Although some families may come from diverse backgrounds, they still find the strength to move forward. This strength is called resiliency. It’s a fire inside of someone that tells him or her to continue, when all other circumstances may be leading him or her to quit. The decision to place a baby for adoption is the most selfless act I could think of and being a small part of that process is unbelievable. The adoptive families that reach out to us have all types of reason to adopt but there is always one common factor that is the need and want to love a child. This is the most important desire to have as a parent because everything else that comes with parenthood is unknown.
Read More from the Adoption STAR Staff:
- Wendy Lane: Basic Principles of Counseling
- Sue Shaw: Making Promises You Can’t Keep
- Sue Reardon: Portrait of Open Adoption
- Lori Craig: Unexpectedly Landing a Job in the Field of Adoption
- Michael Hill: Two Different Open Adoption Plans within One Family
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