Yesterday at 6:48am
every evening
i come home from work
and sit in a director's chair at a wicker desk.
first,
i plug in my cell phone to my lap top so i can begin my internet journey.
verizion wireless refers to it as' broadband internet'
i refer to it as
bootleg dialup.
if i had a landline, i'd use it, but i don't, because i didn't want the extra bill.
every evening i come home tired
because
i
work at the welfare office.
and in the past two days i have heard two different women going through two different sets of circumstances,
using pejorative phrases to
describe
'the stupid social worker'
one woman, skipped the formalities and
after introductions around dinner, she
launched into her traumatic tale of what 'the stupid social worker did to me'
the second woman, was part of the poetry slam i paid and volunteered to participate in
who read a poem where she described how
the social workers where indifferent, unimpressed or just plain apathetic to the fact that she made her living
by
not working.
she went on to describe the chairs in the lobby and how they weren't fit to sit in let alone fit
for someone who just needed to get
health insurance for her son,
and she mentioned the 12$ that the social worker gave her,
as if that was going to make a difference in her life.
when i was a poet who worked actively in the community,
i remember getting fatigued on poems about how the government was racist,
how it didn't care, how it was only there to serve itself and
how fema was just a bunch of white people who didn't care.
so
for the first time in my poetic life , i used poetry
to write a poem to refute
these facts. to explain what it was social workers did ,
how my coworkers who were black , white, arbic/chaldean , muslim
volunteered to assist fema and how
if you look at the news footage
of who was on the front lines passing out government paperwork and navigating the fucked up system they were thrown into,
it was women and minorities, there were no racists on the front line,
these people worked on a shoestring budget, and came back
to a caseload exploding with work.
and they did it because they knew, that if there was anyone who could explain
convoluted paperwork, the importance of finding a mailing address and
how to get id with no money or proof of who you are, they could do it.
these social workers
explained what they had the right and power to do,
and what social workers who work for the government can and cannot fix.
i wasn't aggressive enough in my spiel,
the impact lasted four minutes,
one minute past the last word i uttered.
so here i am
up at 4:56 am . and i can't shake it off.
see,
i work 40 hours per week. and my job, is to process requests for assistance.
or
in plain english, to pass out bridge cards.
and , using a software package that would bury an irs auditors system
i input your name, your expenses and your income, and the formula is worked, then at the end, like a slot machine, the computer tells me how much assistance you are eligible for.
there is no mention of
entitled to,
needs,
to make her life easy,
helpful amount,
obligated to give her, the budget letter clearly states
'this is what she is eligible for'
and
i get the letters and the documentation and i explain to the client,
this is what you're going to get this month, this is what you're going to get next month and this
is what you'll get until your review next year. at which time
you'll come in and we'll review your case and make adjustments.
now.
you are probably board at this point, probably want to switch off if you haven't already want to
say 'so what' or why do i care?
i don't know why you don't
i don't know why you care,
but
im at the end of my rope with people who so freely refer to case managers as 'stupid social workers'
in my presence.
i feel like my light skinned cousins must feel when someone leans in and says 'i don't know what black people are thinking sometimes.' and they lean back in to say 'well, they are mostly thinking that you white people are talking about them behind their backs'
social workers
are not stupid;
except for how they show up every day to try to dispense help for the masses, with a shrinking pot of money. its amazing how much work a social worker will do to ensure that a person gets what they are eligible for.
yes, that part of the system is idiotic.
but, the social worker shows up to do the job.
now,
tonight i paid 20 dollars to see the women of the world poetry show.
I'd been looking forward to it for weeks.
i volunteered and i told people, hey go see this show.
and
i was soooooo excited to see jessica care moore perform. i'd heard about her, missed the apollo bruh ha ha and missed most of what's poetically going on because.
i work.
i work 40 hours per week
at the welfare office and im left drained at the end of a week. too much to participate in poetry anymore
not that i physically can't write.
i just don't want to spend the time
emoting when
i could be knitting or sleeping or cleaning my apartment.
but today , i paid 12$ to park
i walked in the dark 3 blocks
then i paid 20$ to get in
and i make it in time for the last part of her first poem
and
the beginning of he second poem. she begins to describe the dhs office.
the department of human services...
and at that point
i wanted to bolt because i knew it wasn't going to be
a poem where she outlined the majic of being able to get free health insurance for herself and or her son,
it wasn't going to be about how the paper work left the worker undaunted and in spite of the fact that
this client
owns her own business ,
this poem was not going to be an ode to the helping profession
now not going to show awe at how the
social worker
was able to decipher her eligibility for anything due to the complex nature of her circumstances ,
let alone 12$ for her bridge card.
see, there is no line for 'client could work for mcdonalds but chooses to live a happy life which is not affordable so the tax payers have to foot her health insurance while she 'creates'
there is no line in the computer for 'the creative artist who believes that working a full time job will short her vision so she must receive the medicaid package valued upwards of $7000 so she won't have to
waste her time
at a day job. there is no separate welfare for artists who are starving , that is funded
by
artists who are not.
well, at least not at the welfare office.
there, the artists poets writers sit amongst laid off factory workers , teachers, office workers mechanics, university professors and veterans who have no opportunities so must utilize an 'available resource'
yeah. i can see how you'd be a little pissed by the company you're keeping.
the
have worked
amongst the
worked nots..
note: if you receive a bridge card from the government, your poems about how bailouts are wrong will fall on a social workers deaf ears.
unless you plan to turn it in because,
if you have a bridge card,
you've been bailed out.
but i digressed.
during her poem
i think i stopped listening somewhere around
how the chairs she had to sit in
were uncomfortable.
this i can explain,
the welfare office
does not undergo renovations often. the thought is that resources should be poured back into the pockets of the citizens so jcm, i apologize that you had to sit in a hard chair to wait for your sons
free
health
care
case to be opened.
and i know that you had to bring your own music,
miles davis i think you mentioned,
to the welfare office because the television blares on one channel.
but, please excuse our blight, the clerks,
the receptionists, fought for the television in the first place because
Lansing,
felt that televisions in lobbies were luxuries and that if there was one there, it should play a public service tape looped around for the good of the people on how to complete a welfare application.
not to rat out my coworkers, but i m sure that each office, collectively decided , to destroy said tapes , so the clients would be able to at least enjoy a soap opra, not a drone trying to explain the importance of signing your name legibly, for the fourth time
i can assure you
it was not the sci fi channel because that requires cable and
there is no cable television at the welfare office
that
would be jail.
wrong fight ,wrong blight.
and even there, you have vending machines for snacks while you visit your inmate friends so yeah
the government is short on comfort but long on
services...
i think im still a little angry.
hubris defined your disgust at 'ONLY' receiving 12$
one client explained that her 10 allotment was all that was needed to purchase snacks for her daughters school lunch.
it was the difference between small milks, chips , apples cupcakes and a sandwich.
or
just
a sandwich.
so i made sure, i processed her $10 like it was ten thousand dollars because
i know what its like to have a lunch with no snacks,
to have no lunch.
so if you want to be disgusted by something,
be disgusted that a kid who went without lunch
that grew into a woman
who made it a personal crusade
that one kid
would always have lunch, not just a sandwich, but cookies cupcakes and juice....
i
am not a stupid social worker
we
are not stupid social workers.
we are not lazy, we are not apathetic we are not trifling
we are not
impressed with hubris, we are not intimidated by artists, i have more original art hanging in my cubicle than most fortune five hundred corporations, hand painted hand picked and paid for by money earned while working at the welfare office and my purchases
helped feed a poet.
i have more chap books cd's broadsides et. al.
and my purchases helped
feed a poet.
i n an effort to deflect the negativity associated with
working at the welfare office,
i have grown plants so full and lush
that clients ask me 'do these belong to the state . are they real"
i have given out more plant clippings to client's just because
they love plant life of needing something and having to acquiesce to get it.
i have coworkers who call my plants an oasis and come to visit them when they need a break from abusive condescending clients who've dubbed them
fat bitch
dumb bitch
stupid bitch
slow bitch
you're a bitch. then call back and request yet another service from
the same bitch who determined their eligibility for the last service they requested.
i take offense to being called a stupid social worker or
apathetic or
insensitive to the process.
an artist, a poet, a writer, by profession,
is not charged with delivering the news to the impoverished, homeless, elderly and pregnant, 'no, you are not eligible for what it is you seek'
an artist, a poet, a writer by profession,
is not charged with managing case loads of five, six, seven eight, one thousand cases.
ONE THOUSAND CASES ...equals two thousand recipients and a poet, a writer, an artist by profession is not responsible for
telling a cancer patient 'no you are not eligible 'for telling a homeless family' no you are not eligible' for telling a pregnant woman' no you are not eligible ' for telling an elderly vet 'no you are not eligible ' for telling a motherless child 'no we cannot bury him you are not eligible'
a poet, artist, writer by profession has
never had to deny
deny
deny deny deny deny deny deny deny deny
a person
what they need because
the computer said they were 'ineligible'
if you think the chair you sat in was uncomfortable the day you
went to the welfare office to see the stupid worker,
imagine the heat illuminating from the chair of the one who feels as if
she has just denied
everyone
everything they need and even if i cheated, even if i gave it to them anyway,
the consequences would be detrimental.
it would be considered 'an agency error' and the benefits would be retrieved from the client , siphoning away a little a time in such a way that the person would begin to understand the plight of the sharecropper who would never pay his forty acres and a mule off.
and
to the woman who thinks that the protective services worker who took her son and baby's daddy's child out of the home whom she did not give birth too,
hear me.
do you think, social workers wake up and hope
that today will be the day a family is destroyed?
do you think, we wanted to grow up to be child abductors when we were little? that we played dress up
in ill fitting jackets and sensible shoes, knocking on our sisters bed room doors and asking that chatty Cathy and Tuesday Taylor be handed over for their own sake? do you think
i envisioned, after 8 years of college and , as one poet described, countless rejections for PhD programs, i'd want to dress up in the uniform of the keeper of the oppressed every single god dammed day?
do you think, i want to see you dragged through a miserable system?
or do you think , i'd rather resolve your case then move on to work with someone who actually wants my help, someone who thanks god i came along lest they endure one more ass whipping alone.
if you don't want their help , quit their system.
but to continue to activate yourself within it by parenting a child you have no legal custody to, is to invite the 'stupid social worker' into your life.
she doesn't care about your traditional your heritage your culture your disposition, she
cares about one thing.
what the law says.
you
have no rights to your baby's daddy's baby by a different momma. you don't have any legal rights to anyone other than he who passed through your womb.
and if you think that a magical emotional relationship between you and she, makes you more better than the social worker who is trying to ensure that the law is followed, regardless of a poetic notion of what is right, then she is not the one who is stupid.
there is no such thing
as a stupid social worker.
a social worker,
is responsible for ensuring that
families are fed, families who the social worker does not lay any other claim to the responsibility for feeding,
other than
the family spent time in that hard assed chair not fit for human seating
there is no such thing
as a stupid social worker.
a social worker is responsible for protecting children from individuals who do not understand
that just because this child is your 'fam'. it does not give you the right to sign an emergency medical treatment form in case her appendix bursts.
a stupid social worker understands that if he, has not been determined to be the legal father, he does not have rights to her, and since you do not have a ring on your finger, you do not have the right to any information about he health or well being because you
are not
her mother. and the stupid social worker knows.
that any further contact between the two of you , may result in a split so deep , you'll never be allowed the opportunity to recover.
a stupid social worker knows, that if she can get
the case right
on paper, get everyone where they need to be placed in the community safely,
that she can close the case
and as a private citizen you are free to do what you need to do.
i am not a stupid social worker
i do not know
any stupid social workers.
but
i am sick and tired
of people whispering across the table about how
they had to go in
to apply for a bridge card and the stupid social worker wasn't listening to you.
the stupid social worker
doesn't need to listen to your story baby.
she's heard them all, she knew your story when you walked into the office dressed in your poor clothes but your lipstick tube was mac.
the stupid social worker peeped your hold card when you walked in with a coach bag purchased at the gas station but your daughters afro puffs were covered in lint and dust.
the stupid social worker knew your story when
you were so busy defending the man who was in jail for beating you that you forgot to tell her your address and
believe me, she knew he was in jail because the stupid social worker looked it up on her stupid computer and his mug shot went
straight
into
the stupid file
after you walked out
the stupid door.
now is not the time to wage war at the welfare office.
now is not the time to wage war at the unemployment office.
stupid social workers do not go door to door and recruit individuals
to come be a part of the bridge card bail out.
the stupid social workers have the keys to 'help city' h.u.d. , w.i.c, the directions to the s.s.i office they know the difference between the r.s.d.i. payment and the s.d.a payment a social worker
knows if you ask for medicaid if you are going to be eligible for a
q,l,m,n,p,or h. case.
there are over 32 combinations of medicaid.
perhaps you can come in and tell the stupid social worker
which one you want and when she's finished denying you for it, you can try to guess which one after that.
you wont have to, because the stupid social worker knows
how to get cancer coverage for a person who has never worked , doesn't have any children, and is in need of chemo.
perhaps your child has asthma
or you have just had a miscarriage. did you know you are eligible for three months of postnatal care to ensure there are no problems?
if you don't know
ask a stupid social worker.
so here's what i have to say.
if you want to be a poet, writer , artist business woman if
you want to be a life long student a dancer if you want to
pursue your dreams without having to worry about showing up at a thankless job where people
call you stupid when it suits them,
if you want to avoid having to deal with a stupid social worker when you're medicaid is cut off,
leave it off.
if you want to avoid being bothered with the 12 free dollars that you are given to at least
help with your son's school lunch treats,
then give it back.
you
can quit, the stupid social worker anytime you feel like you need to.
but just because the process embarrasses you, just because you had to drive by the marquee where your name is in lights to get to sit in an audience where the social worker gets the curtain call
just because
you think
your social worker has never been a poet ,writer, artist, mother or
better yet
just because you believe
your social worker
has never been on welfare,, has never had to sit on that hard assed chair and
just because you think she is still
right now
not inside the computer she uses to serve you because baby
there are stupid social workers who qualify for welfare after the love is gone and the child support did not come rolling in,
just because you think
she doesn't play miles davis because she's not deep and not because they've just issued an email saying 'all radios must be unplugged in an effort to lower the electric bill for our district office' just because you think
she has
no soul
no life
no desires
no intelligence
no home training
does not mean
you have a stupid social worker.
all it means
is that you had the audacity
to think she'd be out of earshot
when you called her that because
she's too stupid to know
how you really feel about
being on the opposite side of the desk
at the welfare office.
welfare is a voluntary program. social workers do not go door to door and offer these services to you.
if you don't like your stupid social worker.
leave her.
she has a fan club six hundred deep.
don't be surprised if , when you close your case,
her stupid ass
sends you a thank you card.
i come home from work
and sit in a director's chair at a wicker desk.
first,
i plug in my cell phone to my lap top so i can begin my internet journey.
verizion wireless refers to it as' broadband internet'
i refer to it as
bootleg dialup.
if i had a landline, i'd use it, but i don't, because i didn't want the extra bill.
every evening i come home tired
because
i
work at the welfare office.
and in the past two days i have heard two different women going through two different sets of circumstances,
using pejorative phrases to
describe
'the stupid social worker'
one woman, skipped the formalities and
after introductions around dinner, she
launched into her traumatic tale of what 'the stupid social worker did to me'
the second woman, was part of the poetry slam i paid and volunteered to participate in
who read a poem where she described how
the social workers where indifferent, unimpressed or just plain apathetic to the fact that she made her living
by
not working.
she went on to describe the chairs in the lobby and how they weren't fit to sit in let alone fit
for someone who just needed to get
health insurance for her son,
and she mentioned the 12$ that the social worker gave her,
as if that was going to make a difference in her life.
when i was a poet who worked actively in the community,
i remember getting fatigued on poems about how the government was racist,
how it didn't care, how it was only there to serve itself and
how fema was just a bunch of white people who didn't care.
so
for the first time in my poetic life , i used poetry
to write a poem to refute
these facts. to explain what it was social workers did ,
how my coworkers who were black , white, arbic/chaldean , muslim
volunteered to assist fema and how
if you look at the news footage
of who was on the front lines passing out government paperwork and navigating the fucked up system they were thrown into,
it was women and minorities, there were no racists on the front line,
these people worked on a shoestring budget, and came back
to a caseload exploding with work.
and they did it because they knew, that if there was anyone who could explain
convoluted paperwork, the importance of finding a mailing address and
how to get id with no money or proof of who you are, they could do it.
these social workers
explained what they had the right and power to do,
and what social workers who work for the government can and cannot fix.
i wasn't aggressive enough in my spiel,
the impact lasted four minutes,
one minute past the last word i uttered.
so here i am
up at 4:56 am . and i can't shake it off.
see,
i work 40 hours per week. and my job, is to process requests for assistance.
or
in plain english, to pass out bridge cards.
and , using a software package that would bury an irs auditors system
i input your name, your expenses and your income, and the formula is worked, then at the end, like a slot machine, the computer tells me how much assistance you are eligible for.
there is no mention of
entitled to,
needs,
to make her life easy,
helpful amount,
obligated to give her, the budget letter clearly states
'this is what she is eligible for'
and
i get the letters and the documentation and i explain to the client,
this is what you're going to get this month, this is what you're going to get next month and this
is what you'll get until your review next year. at which time
you'll come in and we'll review your case and make adjustments.
now.
you are probably board at this point, probably want to switch off if you haven't already want to
say 'so what' or why do i care?
i don't know why you don't
i don't know why you care,
but
im at the end of my rope with people who so freely refer to case managers as 'stupid social workers'
in my presence.
i feel like my light skinned cousins must feel when someone leans in and says 'i don't know what black people are thinking sometimes.' and they lean back in to say 'well, they are mostly thinking that you white people are talking about them behind their backs'
social workers
are not stupid;
except for how they show up every day to try to dispense help for the masses, with a shrinking pot of money. its amazing how much work a social worker will do to ensure that a person gets what they are eligible for.
yes, that part of the system is idiotic.
but, the social worker shows up to do the job.
now,
tonight i paid 20 dollars to see the women of the world poetry show.
I'd been looking forward to it for weeks.
i volunteered and i told people, hey go see this show.
and
i was soooooo excited to see jessica care moore perform. i'd heard about her, missed the apollo bruh ha ha and missed most of what's poetically going on because.
i work.
i work 40 hours per week
at the welfare office and im left drained at the end of a week. too much to participate in poetry anymore
not that i physically can't write.
i just don't want to spend the time
emoting when
i could be knitting or sleeping or cleaning my apartment.
but today , i paid 12$ to park
i walked in the dark 3 blocks
then i paid 20$ to get in
and i make it in time for the last part of her first poem
and
the beginning of he second poem. she begins to describe the dhs office.
the department of human services...
and at that point
i wanted to bolt because i knew it wasn't going to be
a poem where she outlined the majic of being able to get free health insurance for herself and or her son,
it wasn't going to be about how the paper work left the worker undaunted and in spite of the fact that
this client
owns her own business ,
this poem was not going to be an ode to the helping profession
now not going to show awe at how the
social worker
was able to decipher her eligibility for anything due to the complex nature of her circumstances ,
let alone 12$ for her bridge card.
see, there is no line for 'client could work for mcdonalds but chooses to live a happy life which is not affordable so the tax payers have to foot her health insurance while she 'creates'
there is no line in the computer for 'the creative artist who believes that working a full time job will short her vision so she must receive the medicaid package valued upwards of $7000 so she won't have to
waste her time
at a day job. there is no separate welfare for artists who are starving , that is funded
by
artists who are not.
well, at least not at the welfare office.
there, the artists poets writers sit amongst laid off factory workers , teachers, office workers mechanics, university professors and veterans who have no opportunities so must utilize an 'available resource'
yeah. i can see how you'd be a little pissed by the company you're keeping.
the
have worked
amongst the
worked nots..
note: if you receive a bridge card from the government, your poems about how bailouts are wrong will fall on a social workers deaf ears.
unless you plan to turn it in because,
if you have a bridge card,
you've been bailed out.
but i digressed.
during her poem
i think i stopped listening somewhere around
how the chairs she had to sit in
were uncomfortable.
this i can explain,
the welfare office
does not undergo renovations often. the thought is that resources should be poured back into the pockets of the citizens so jcm, i apologize that you had to sit in a hard chair to wait for your sons
free
health
care
case to be opened.
and i know that you had to bring your own music,
miles davis i think you mentioned,
to the welfare office because the television blares on one channel.
but, please excuse our blight, the clerks,
the receptionists, fought for the television in the first place because
Lansing,
felt that televisions in lobbies were luxuries and that if there was one there, it should play a public service tape looped around for the good of the people on how to complete a welfare application.
not to rat out my coworkers, but i m sure that each office, collectively decided , to destroy said tapes , so the clients would be able to at least enjoy a soap opra, not a drone trying to explain the importance of signing your name legibly, for the fourth time
i can assure you
it was not the sci fi channel because that requires cable and
there is no cable television at the welfare office
that
would be jail.
wrong fight ,wrong blight.
and even there, you have vending machines for snacks while you visit your inmate friends so yeah
the government is short on comfort but long on
services...
i think im still a little angry.
hubris defined your disgust at 'ONLY' receiving 12$
one client explained that her 10 allotment was all that was needed to purchase snacks for her daughters school lunch.
it was the difference between small milks, chips , apples cupcakes and a sandwich.
or
just
a sandwich.
so i made sure, i processed her $10 like it was ten thousand dollars because
i know what its like to have a lunch with no snacks,
to have no lunch.
so if you want to be disgusted by something,
be disgusted that a kid who went without lunch
that grew into a woman
who made it a personal crusade
that one kid
would always have lunch, not just a sandwich, but cookies cupcakes and juice....
i
am not a stupid social worker
we
are not stupid social workers.
we are not lazy, we are not apathetic we are not trifling
we are not
impressed with hubris, we are not intimidated by artists, i have more original art hanging in my cubicle than most fortune five hundred corporations, hand painted hand picked and paid for by money earned while working at the welfare office and my purchases
helped feed a poet.
i have more chap books cd's broadsides et. al.
and my purchases helped
feed a poet.
i n an effort to deflect the negativity associated with
working at the welfare office,
i have grown plants so full and lush
that clients ask me 'do these belong to the state . are they real"
i have given out more plant clippings to client's just because
they love plant life of needing something and having to acquiesce to get it.
i have coworkers who call my plants an oasis and come to visit them when they need a break from abusive condescending clients who've dubbed them
fat bitch
dumb bitch
stupid bitch
slow bitch
you're a bitch. then call back and request yet another service from
the same bitch who determined their eligibility for the last service they requested.
i take offense to being called a stupid social worker or
apathetic or
insensitive to the process.
an artist, a poet, a writer, by profession,
is not charged with delivering the news to the impoverished, homeless, elderly and pregnant, 'no, you are not eligible for what it is you seek'
an artist, a poet, a writer by profession,
is not charged with managing case loads of five, six, seven eight, one thousand cases.
ONE THOUSAND CASES ...equals two thousand recipients and a poet, a writer, an artist by profession is not responsible for
telling a cancer patient 'no you are not eligible 'for telling a homeless family' no you are not eligible' for telling a pregnant woman' no you are not eligible ' for telling an elderly vet 'no you are not eligible ' for telling a motherless child 'no we cannot bury him you are not eligible'
a poet, artist, writer by profession has
never had to deny
deny
deny deny deny deny deny deny deny deny
a person
what they need because
the computer said they were 'ineligible'
if you think the chair you sat in was uncomfortable the day you
went to the welfare office to see the stupid worker,
imagine the heat illuminating from the chair of the one who feels as if
she has just denied
everyone
everything they need and even if i cheated, even if i gave it to them anyway,
the consequences would be detrimental.
it would be considered 'an agency error' and the benefits would be retrieved from the client , siphoning away a little a time in such a way that the person would begin to understand the plight of the sharecropper who would never pay his forty acres and a mule off.
and
to the woman who thinks that the protective services worker who took her son and baby's daddy's child out of the home whom she did not give birth too,
hear me.
do you think, social workers wake up and hope
that today will be the day a family is destroyed?
do you think, we wanted to grow up to be child abductors when we were little? that we played dress up
in ill fitting jackets and sensible shoes, knocking on our sisters bed room doors and asking that chatty Cathy and Tuesday Taylor be handed over for their own sake? do you think
i envisioned, after 8 years of college and , as one poet described, countless rejections for PhD programs, i'd want to dress up in the uniform of the keeper of the oppressed every single god dammed day?
do you think, i want to see you dragged through a miserable system?
or do you think , i'd rather resolve your case then move on to work with someone who actually wants my help, someone who thanks god i came along lest they endure one more ass whipping alone.
if you don't want their help , quit their system.
but to continue to activate yourself within it by parenting a child you have no legal custody to, is to invite the 'stupid social worker' into your life.
she doesn't care about your traditional your heritage your culture your disposition, she
cares about one thing.
what the law says.
you
have no rights to your baby's daddy's baby by a different momma. you don't have any legal rights to anyone other than he who passed through your womb.
and if you think that a magical emotional relationship between you and she, makes you more better than the social worker who is trying to ensure that the law is followed, regardless of a poetic notion of what is right, then she is not the one who is stupid.
there is no such thing
as a stupid social worker.
a social worker,
is responsible for ensuring that
families are fed, families who the social worker does not lay any other claim to the responsibility for feeding,
other than
the family spent time in that hard assed chair not fit for human seating
there is no such thing
as a stupid social worker.
a social worker is responsible for protecting children from individuals who do not understand
that just because this child is your 'fam'. it does not give you the right to sign an emergency medical treatment form in case her appendix bursts.
a stupid social worker understands that if he, has not been determined to be the legal father, he does not have rights to her, and since you do not have a ring on your finger, you do not have the right to any information about he health or well being because you
are not
her mother. and the stupid social worker knows.
that any further contact between the two of you , may result in a split so deep , you'll never be allowed the opportunity to recover.
a stupid social worker knows, that if she can get
the case right
on paper, get everyone where they need to be placed in the community safely,
that she can close the case
and as a private citizen you are free to do what you need to do.
i am not a stupid social worker
i do not know
any stupid social workers.
but
i am sick and tired
of people whispering across the table about how
they had to go in
to apply for a bridge card and the stupid social worker wasn't listening to you.
the stupid social worker
doesn't need to listen to your story baby.
she's heard them all, she knew your story when you walked into the office dressed in your poor clothes but your lipstick tube was mac.
the stupid social worker peeped your hold card when you walked in with a coach bag purchased at the gas station but your daughters afro puffs were covered in lint and dust.
the stupid social worker knew your story when
you were so busy defending the man who was in jail for beating you that you forgot to tell her your address and
believe me, she knew he was in jail because the stupid social worker looked it up on her stupid computer and his mug shot went
straight
into
the stupid file
after you walked out
the stupid door.
now is not the time to wage war at the welfare office.
now is not the time to wage war at the unemployment office.
stupid social workers do not go door to door and recruit individuals
to come be a part of the bridge card bail out.
the stupid social workers have the keys to 'help city' h.u.d. , w.i.c, the directions to the s.s.i office they know the difference between the r.s.d.i. payment and the s.d.a payment a social worker
knows if you ask for medicaid if you are going to be eligible for a
q,l,m,n,p,or h. case.
there are over 32 combinations of medicaid.
perhaps you can come in and tell the stupid social worker
which one you want and when she's finished denying you for it, you can try to guess which one after that.
you wont have to, because the stupid social worker knows
how to get cancer coverage for a person who has never worked , doesn't have any children, and is in need of chemo.
perhaps your child has asthma
or you have just had a miscarriage. did you know you are eligible for three months of postnatal care to ensure there are no problems?
if you don't know
ask a stupid social worker.
so here's what i have to say.
if you want to be a poet, writer , artist business woman if
you want to be a life long student a dancer if you want to
pursue your dreams without having to worry about showing up at a thankless job where people
call you stupid when it suits them,
if you want to avoid having to deal with a stupid social worker when you're medicaid is cut off,
leave it off.
if you want to avoid being bothered with the 12 free dollars that you are given to at least
help with your son's school lunch treats,
then give it back.
you
can quit, the stupid social worker anytime you feel like you need to.
but just because the process embarrasses you, just because you had to drive by the marquee where your name is in lights to get to sit in an audience where the social worker gets the curtain call
just because
you think
your social worker has never been a poet ,writer, artist, mother or
better yet
just because you believe
your social worker
has never been on welfare,, has never had to sit on that hard assed chair and
just because you think she is still
right now
not inside the computer she uses to serve you because baby
there are stupid social workers who qualify for welfare after the love is gone and the child support did not come rolling in,
just because you think
she doesn't play miles davis because she's not deep and not because they've just issued an email saying 'all radios must be unplugged in an effort to lower the electric bill for our district office' just because you think
she has
no soul
no life
no desires
no intelligence
no home training
does not mean
you have a stupid social worker.
all it means
is that you had the audacity
to think she'd be out of earshot
when you called her that because
she's too stupid to know
how you really feel about
being on the opposite side of the desk
at the welfare office.
welfare is a voluntary program. social workers do not go door to door and offer these services to you.
if you don't like your stupid social worker.
leave her.
she has a fan club six hundred deep.
don't be surprised if , when you close your case,
her stupid ass
sends you a thank you card.
