Happy New Year and A Retrospective Look at 2008

Happy New Year!!! I hope it is has been good so far. Our New Year has not gotten off to a good start. 2009 began at 9 am this morning with my mother (aka The Warden) calling to tell me that the pork roast she was preparing for our New Years Day lunch was frozen. Apparently the butcher at the meat market sold her a frozen roast. Next my sister called to inform me that the sweet potatoes she had purchased were rotten and her husband was at the grocery store purchasing the last of the sweet potatoes. I truly hope that this is not a forecast for what 2009 will hold. If so, we are in for a rough ride.

2008 had its ups and downs. In February I started this blog at the urging of my friends Trasheka and Drama Mama. I will be honest, it was a good outlet for me and although my readers started small, it quickly grew. I never anticipated the number of social work blogs out there. It was also surprising to see the number of blogs written by foster parents and adoptive parents. I have truly enjoyed reading each and ever blog. I have gained a lot from these blogs and have used some of these individuals' insights as foster/adoptive parents in my job. I am also appreciative of all the support that I have received from my fellow social workers out there, both from the mental health and child welfare/family preservation perspective. It is comforting to know that I am not the only one out there who finds humor in the twisted and often frustrating world of social work.

The one piece of this blog that I did not anticipate was attracting the attention of the cyberstalkers. These are individuals who have a true dislike (and I am being nice when I say that) for social workers and all things related to social work and child welfare. Personal attacks came fast and furious. Initially I read them, but then came to realize that these individuals clearly have an unhealthy axe to grind and no amount of reasoning or explanation will change them from their views/opinions of social work and the child welfare system. Several months ago, just before the dinosaur crashed, I stopped reading the comments and simply began deleting them. The fact of the matter is that these individuals have clearly been burned by the system, and I truly feel sorry for them. It is terrible that the system failed them and their children. I hope that one day these individuals will find peace and are able to let go of the bitterness that is driving their need to leave personal attacks not only against me and my family, but also against other social workers whose blogs have been found.

I figured since it is a new year, the blog deserved a new look. It is still a work in progress and I am sure that more changes are yet to come. Now that I have a working computer, I will not have to rely on the moods of the dinosaur. I plan to continue to blog not only about the craziness of my job, but also about my life in general. Because let's face it, life is too short and if you can't appreciate the humor (twisted as it may be) what's the point.

I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year and that 2009 brings good things your way. Until next time...