I was monitoring a supervised visit between a child, his mother, father and grandmother, with a coworker from my class and either the FBS worker from the case. Apparently there was a second child in the family, but he/she had passed away recently. The police were putting together a case against the parents and they were trying to figure out which of the many charges they could choose from would be most appropriate for the case. Murder? Child abuse? Or perhaps a third one we hadn't considered. We'd find out the results at a staffing in a couple of days, at which point the parents would be arrested. Basically the child had been starved, beaten, and in some way tortured. Did I mention that the deceased child was like two years old? Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, the child was two.
So there we are behind the mirror. We can see the family, but they can't see us. We had to let them see their younger child, even though they'd just let their older child die. The caseworker was describing the case and I recognized the tone of her voice so clearly. It was a tone that just let me know how numb she was. It was like she was describing something in a dream, because she didn't want it to be real. We have to sit here and let these parents see their kid after they'd let their other kid die? Is this a joke?
The caseworker told me that I needed to get used to this. She said people are generally pretty terrible. I told her that I disagreed with that statement, but conceded that there are many terrible people in the world. She asked me why on earth I'd want to work in a place like this and I laughed and said, "Why not?" She responded by saying, "No, really, why would you want to work in a place like this? Why would you want to work for CPS?" Oh, she was serious. My mistake. Regardless, I knew the answer to her question, but was trying to decide how diplomatic I wanted to be with my answer. I decided to throw caution into he wind and just answer truthfully: "I believe that Jesus is going to use me to heal broken families." (At this point, my other coworker said her standard NIIIIIIIIIICCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKK.) I stole that from my friend Jake, but that doesn't make it any less true.
"OH! You're one of THOSE people! You think you're going to save the world!"
"No."
"Give it time, you'll come around and come back to reality."
We talked for a couple more minutes. She was kind enough to explain to me how out of touch I was, and how I need to lower my expectations. I didn't want to upset someone who was doing me a favor by being there, so I didn't point out that she had actually told me her expectations, and that I should be disappointed by the expectations she set for me (huh?)
What I REALLY wanted to do was talk to her about Jesus. Does she know Him? I'm pretty confident that the answer is "No." I guess the real question is, "Are you a Christian who has missed the point or are you not a Christian at all?" I feel like because I'm in the bible belt (Deep in the heaaarttt of Texas) she probably was a Christian, but I shouldn't assume that. Anyways, it tied in with a conversation that I had with a friend recently. Christianity is a source of hope. Jesus died for our sins, and because of this you, yes YOU, can inherit the kingdom. This woman I was talking to, she was just so sad. She had been working at CPS for 5 years and it seemed like this case had really gotten to her. I wish I had told her not to worry. As my friend Ashley says, "This battle has already been won." Jesus died because of the sin in the world, and this was very much included in that.
I hope that if you're a Christian, and you know Jesus, that you're telling everyone of the good news. There is hope. God loves everyone and he wants you to know Him. Don't let his world get you down. It's only temporary.
And now for something completely different:
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