Putting Children First

It was in June of 2018, that school social worker Jennifer Erickson became aware that a convicted sex offender, was planning to take his 4 daughters across the country from Wisconsin to Texas. She had to act extremely quickly and had under 24 hours to save these young girls from a perpetrator before it was too late. The stress, intensity, and emotional strain of this situation is emotional labor that comes along with being a school social worker. Emotional labor involves emotional dissonance which means having to display certain feelings or having to suppress true feelings. When you identify with the pain of people who have endured terrible things, like Jennifer does on a daily basis, you bring their grief, fear, anger, and despair into your own awareness and experience. Social workers have to conceal these emotions in order to help their students.

Jennifer has worked at an elementary school in the Milwaukee Public school system for 22 years. Each year she has witnessed and heard many stories of people’s suffering, but she shared that this was the “most distressing case that I dealt with. It created strong emotions including fear, stress, extreme sadness and anxiety, however, I had to push these feelings aside.”

The case involved a family of four girls, ranging two to nine years old. The oldest of the three girls, Jessica, is in a girls group that Jennifer facilitates and meets with her weekly at the elementary school. They developed a strong relationship and built trust, which led to Jessica opening up about her past. Three of the four girls had been sexually molested by their paternal grandfather, and their mother had been inconsistent in getting her daughters therapy for the trauma they endured. “It was heartbreaking to hear that these young girls were not getting help for such a horrific and tragic situation”, describes Jennifer. “I have learned that the only way to survive my job without experiencing burnout is to attempt to close off my deep emotions to tragic situations.” Through the suppression of her own emotions, she has been able to hear information like this, and not let her emotions get in the way of her daily functioning.

Jennifer learned important information about Jessica over the years of working together. In this case specifically she came to realize that the girls biological father was also charged with the sexual abuse of a 12 year old and was in jail. It was reported to her, by a relative of the girls, that the mother was an alcoholic and would often bring men over to her home and had men living in the home. They would get drunk and high in the presence of the girls. Although multiple calls were made to the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare, the mother was very good at lying and the case would typically get opened and closed. At times, Jennifer is unable to separate her emotions from the situation she is dealing with and has teared up in front of students and parents. It is part of her job to package these emotions to fit organizational norms. She has to portray herself in a different way than how she really feels, and suppress her own emotion in order to be present and strong for her students.

Jennifer came to realize that the father was out of jail and living with the girls. Upon learning this information Jennifer knew she had to act immediately and quickly started investigating. This same day was when Jennifer found out the father was picking up the girls and taking them to Texas the next day for the entire summer. According to the sexual assault registry he was not supposed to have any contact with the children so Jennifer jumped into action. She had to stay emotionally tough and focused. She first called the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare and filed a report although she realized their response time was not going to protect these girls. She then contacted the father’s probation officer who sent officers to his house. They had to knock down the door and arrest the father for violating his parole. He was taken into custody.

When Jennifer received a call from the probation officer informing her of the arrest she broke down in tears. The girls were safe. In the midst of this situation Jennifer was feeling extremely anxious so when hearing this news she experienced an overwhelming feeling of relief. Emotional labor is a fundamental part of her job. She has had to learn to be tough and tries to leave school experiences at school. “I typically pray for my students and families while driving home, and attempt to let go and let God,” says Jennifer. “Everyone deals with hard, emotional experiences in their lives, and although it can be emotionally draining, I would go through personal emotional trials to help protect any child.”