My Field Placement is confirmed!!

I've secured my field placement! I will be interning at an ADOPTION agency this Fall and Spring Semester. I will be working with an MSW who graduated from my school/program, and she knows exactly what I will need to learn, be exposed to, how to write my learning plan, etc. She is an infant and international adoption counselor and I will be mainly working with her. She does home visits with prospective parents, goes to court to finalize the adoption, etc. I will accompany her on these visits and will be exposed to writing up home studies, which she says are like a biography of a family - every little detail about them is included. Each family member is also interviewed individually.

They mentioned the need for flexibility because if a birth mother has a child, we have to go to the hospitals on Saturdays, etc. I am fine with that, and they know that I have my other job(s). I will be working with them on Wednesdays and Fridays, and/or whenever the need arises. I could go to hospital visits, recruitment events, writing up progress notes/home studies, going to court, etc.

I am SO excited but very nervous. I know absolutely nothing about this area of work!! Being completely new to the field of Social Work, I am grateful that my field instructor is going to be working so closely with me. I think some people are thrown to the wolves, so to speak, and I would be terrified if that were the case! I asked for some literature to read this Summer and I got what I asked for: 4 books and a 3" binder of the Florida Statutes on Adoption!!

I have to go for my background check in August. And, I sent my field instructor and her supervisor a thank you email when I got home. I really am grateful for this opportunity. :D