Rachael Davis

Agency: Pima County Juvenile Court

Term: Fall - 2001

I am doing my internship in the Dependency Unit at the Pima County Juvenile Court. I work with parents who have had their children removed from their home by Child Protective Services. I am involved in working with the case specialists, whose main goals are to find treatment for drugs and alcohol, parenting classes, and even housing for these parents. I go along with these specialists as they visit their clients.

I am also involved in Family Drug Court, which is a fairly new program. It is a voluntary program for the clients who are addicted to drugs. If they volunteer to participate in the program, they appear before a judge once a week to talk about how they are doing. It is a very informal meeting with everyone involved in all the cases present. The main topic of conversation is if they are following their case plan that was established when they began the program. The clients are not allowed to miss a random urine analysis or miss any classes they were ordered to attend. If this does happen, the judge can sanction them. An example of a sanction for missing a urine analysis is to write an essay about why they are important. The Drug Court provides the clients with a support system. After the first eight weeks, the clients phase to the next level and come every other week for the rest of the eight months. I attend the weekly staffing about the program and attend the weekly court hearing.

The reason I chose this internship was that I wanted to gain more knowledge and experience with everything that goes on in families. I feel that I have already accomplished this. In just the few months that I have been at the Court, I have learned so much more than I ever thought I would. I have also interviewed all the employees in the Dependency Unit, learning what jobs I would like to have for the future. I have plans to become a child psychologist by earning a PhD degree in Marriage and Family Therapy. I am looking for possible jobs to do during graduate school next year to gain experience in the field. My eventual goal is to build my own clinic.

I feel that this internship is going to be a great help in my goals for the future. I have learned so much about the different ways that families deal with all the various obstacles they encounter. I have really learned that there is so much out there that I didn't even know existed. This has been a reality check for me; I have a better understanding of the way the world really is. With all the knowledge I have gained, I feel I am more ready to understand and successfully help families.

I would suggest this internship to anybody who is thinking of working with families, in general. I would really suggest this internship to those individuals who want to work with individuals addicted to drugs and alcohol.

The reason I think so highly of this internship is that I feel that I am really helping and supporting people. One day I was driving a client back to her home and she just need to talk about what was going on in her life. She was so thankful that I wanted to hear about her children and what they were like. It made me feel good that she felt comfortable with telling me so much.

University of Arizona | College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
School of Family and Consumer Sciences | Family Studies and Human Development

Emergency Information   |   Privacy Information    |    Copyright Information   |   Web Accessibility

© 2002 Institute of Children, Youth, and Families
All rights reserved