Intern

I am currently doing my field work with the Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS) under the New Jersey Department of Children and Families (DCF). The office is located at the Business District area in the . The building itself consists of five floors; three of the five floors are the assigned to the Division. The floor layouts are quite similar. This layout consists of many cubicles surrounded by private offices.

The Division of employs about 300 staff members. There are seven different units which are all overseen by the director. The units are managed by caseworker supervisors while supervisors oversee the caseworkers. The caseworkers are assigned to these units according to their expertise. These units include Adoption, Intake, Ongoing, Adolescent, Litigation, Training, and Clerk.

The caseworkers' educational background is mostly of a Bachelors Degree in the Social Sciences. Similarities among the staff can also be found in their physical appearance. The most notable racial difference is between the two predominating groups in the Department: Hispanics and African Americans.

I discussed educational backgrounds and job experiences with two staff members. A psychology major graduate from Rutgers was working as an intake caseworker. He had worked for the Division for five years, which included a year in the Intake unit. He started as a permanency caseworker and moved to Intake. The primary responsibility as an Intake caseworker is to investigate cases that are reported to DYFS. The caseworker reports to the home, interviews the parent/child, addresses the allegations, and determines the course of action. An investigation determines if the case will be open or closed for services. After the intake caseworker opens the case for services, the case is sent to a permanency caseworker. I discussed job experience with a permanency caseworker. She had also graduated from Rutgers University with a Sociology Degree. Once the case is open for services, a permanency caseworker develops a case goal along with the client. The primary responsibility of a permanency caseworker is help the client accomplish the case goal. The caseworker