Crumbling idealism

[DiscoUkulele]

'scuse me while I get this off my chest.

I became a social worker because I wanted to help people. Which is what every social worker says. Most of my courses in college were really empowering; they kept hammering the point that if we worked hard enough, we could bring about some positive change. So, I graduated, got my social work license, got a job, and here I am.

I do case management for adults and children with developmental disabilities. I really care about my clients, and I've been with some of them through really some rough and traumatic times. And I think I've helped some of them get into better situations.

But more and more, I'm realizing that I'm working within a system that doesn't care about them. I work for a private company that works through a state program (all the bullshit of being a state employee without the benefits of actually being one). There's a price tag on the head of each person in this program, and if you do the right things, that price tag can increase exponentially, even if it's not in the client's best interest. And many, many private companies in this program exploit every loophole to get as much money from the state while providing the most bare-bones amount of care possible. I've been lucky that my company isn't like that.

However, the great state of Texas just slashed the budget for this program. So now the pressure to figure out ways to exploit the system is getting incredibly high. Here's an example: People have the option of living in a foster home, where they essentially become part of a family, or living in a group home with rotating 24-hour staff who don't have nearly the same level of emotional investment in their clients' well-being , and who come and go faster that some people change their undergarments. The state pays companies exponentially more money for people in group homes. So, there's an incredible amount of pressure to rip people out of their foster homes where they've been members of a family for 5, 10, hell, 15 years and plop them in a group home so your company can get more money.

My company has a lot of integrity, so we haven't done anything like that. And so we're suffering because of it. There's been lots of cutbacks, and I really feel like layoffs could be just around the corner.

The fucking system is rigged to reward exploiting people and punish integrity. And no amount of letter-writing and protesting seems to have any effect on it.

'scuse me while I get disillusioned.

[The Wizard]

Sorry DU. I'm sorry this is how thing's are turning out. Do you want or need some advice?

[Jasper]

Wait, are you saying society is directed by an unkillable swarm of cynical bean-counters?

[Placid Dingo]

Being a teacher I have some concept of what you're talking about. The thing to remember is provided you play the bare minimum of the stupid games the systems expect, you can usually find a way to contribute positively and meaningfully to peoples lives. If we all relied on the systems we'd all be completely screwed. Fortunately what we rely on is eachother. And no matter how run down and rusty the system is, you're still in control of your little piece of it, and if you know the right tricks you can make it work for you.

[Jenne]

I know what you're talking about DU.  I think this is one of the key reasons why my husband runs a couple of free clinics in the poorest region of San Diego when he could be running a hospital or at least the peds ward of a privately run place by now.  Even though he deals with a lot of red tape and bullshit, he still gets it done for the people who need it most.  But it comes with a lot of disillusionment along the way.

[DiscoUkulele]

Sorry DU. I'm sorry this is how thing's are turning out. Do you want or need some advice?

Sure thing. I love advice.

Wait, are you saying society is directed by an unkillable swarm of cynical bean-counters?

I know, shocking, eh? 

Being a teacher I have some concept of what you're talking about. The thing to remember is provided you play the bare minimum of the stupid games the systems expect, you can usually find a way to contribute positively and meaningfully to peoples lives. If we all relied on the systems we'd all be completely screwed. Fortunately what we rely on is eachother. And no matter how run down and rusty the system is, you're still in control of your little piece of it, and if you know the right tricks you can make it work for you.

Yeah. And in the past that was totally doable, but with these new changes, it feels like they've really stacked things against us. The state also took away a lot of my power to help in certain situations, so now they make some of the major decisions instead of letting me assist. It's really frustrating.

I know what you're talking about DU.  I think this is one of the key reasons why my husband runs a couple of free clinics in the poorest region of San Diego when he could be running a hospital or at least the peds ward of a privately run place by now.  Even though he deals with a lot of red tape and bullshit, he still gets it done for the people who need it most.  But it comes with a lot of disillusionment along the way.

That's awesome!

[Cramulus]

there is something to be said about being one of the humane cogs in the terrible machine.

fuckin texas

I don't want to go into it in depth, but the texas board of ed just demanded a sort of racist change to one of the textbooks we want to sell there. Being publisher whores, we complied, but the editors are all grumbly about it. FUCKING TEXAS, gtfo the union already.

[Elder Iptuous]

 
We're not all scumbags....

we just really need to clean house.   

[DiscoUkulele]

there is something to be said about being one of the humane cogs in the terrible machine.

fuckin texas

I don't want to go into it in depth, but the texas board of ed just demanded a sort of racist change to one of the textbooks we want to sell there. Being publisher whores, we complied, but the editors are all grumbly about it. FUCKING TEXAS, gtfo the union already.

That really sucks. I still can't believe all of that stuff passed! ... oh wait, I can.

We're not all scumbags....

Yeah, some of us live in Austin

But yeah, we're not all backwards. Really

[Elder Iptuous]

i lived there for a few years in the ghetto.    (you know where the Metropolis apartments are off Riverside?)

I moved back up to DFW because of friends and family (and school).
mebbee those that synchronize to Austin should have a duty to evangelize to the rest of TX?  as a sort of disinfectant and prophylactic measure....

[DiscoUkulele]

i lived there for a few years in the ghetto.    (you know where the Metropolis apartments are off Riverside?)

I moved back up to DFW because of friends and family (and school).
mebbee those that synchronize to Austin should have a duty to evangelize to the rest of TX?  as a sort of disinfectant and prophylactic measure....

Hahaha nice. I actually live pretty close to Metropolis. So I'm pretty much in that area. Now, I can't hardly sleep without police sirens going all night. My friend and I thought about making an ambient relaxation CD called "Sounds of Riverside".

[Brotep]

DU, I am in much the same line of work and have to agree with your observations.

One thing I find infuriating is how much is invested into training new staff, and how little is invested in retaining old staff.