Sometimes a Photo is Just a Photo

 

 

I'm on a stay-cation this week, but I'm sitting here at my desk at CPD because duty calls. 

NOTE:  I came in because one of our ongoing funders came in from out of town to hand me a check.  I'll come in every time for cash, people...

I think that people who are not bosses think that bosses don't work as hard as they do and in some respects, they are correct.  I quit schlepping boxes of event programs and centerpieces years ago.  I also don't have to open my mail anymore -- unless my wonderful assistant Martha is out, then I'll even sit in her desk and be the receptionist all day.

I love being the receptionist.  I love welcoming people.   I love answering the phone.  I love chatting up the CPS caseworkers who come by.  I love being a listening ear.

We recently had a great caseworker come in who really needed help.  The 15 year-old girl who was on her caseload had been sexually abused by her step-father when the girl was ages 9 to 12.  She told her mother it was going on and her mother didn't believe her.  The only reason the girl is not still enduring this horror is that both the step-father and the girl came down with the same sexually transmitted disease, so then they believed the child.  The step-father went to prison and the girl has been living in foster care and is available for adoption.

When you are available for adoption your picture goes on a website and potential adoptive parents can look at the photos and see if they are interested in you.  The girl's photo has been on the website for a couple of years, but nobody has chosen to adopt her.  The caseworker came to CPD because the girl said that maybe nobody wanted her because of her photo.  She asked her caseworker through tears if she could have a new outfit and a new photo, so maybe then someone would pick her for a forever home.

She got the new outfit and her caseworker reports that she had a smile as big as Texas when they had the photo shoot with the caseworker's cell phone.

Now, I'm just praying for a forever home.  It's good to be the receptionist and the boss.