Tiffany Rude

Agency: Arizona's Children Association

Term: Fall - 2003

I am currently interning at Arizona’s Children Association. The agency as a whole is aimed at protecting children and preserving families by providing services to children who have been neglected or abused. There are three main programs within the agency: prevention, intervention, and the permanency-planning program. These programs are designed to prevent problems from happening within the family through educational services, individual, family and group and family services, and safe homes for children who have been taken away from their family.

My main responsibilities lie in the permanency-planning program working with foster families and foster children. I work with a team consisting of the child’s caseworker, the child specialist (whether it is therapeutic or intensive care) and the therapist and visit families that have these children in their home. We work with the child making sure that this is a good placement for him and if his/her behavior is improving along with their development cognitively. We also work with the family doing treatment planning for the child or children, making sure that the family is able to keep the child in their home and training to allow them to keep their license or become certified to adopt a child. I also help develop advanced training programs for the families to get more education on some of the behavioral and developmental issues that these children have.

For me there was no problem in deciding at which agency I wanted to intern. After I graduate I plan to attend law school and become an adoption attorney. This agency offers me the chance to work with foster care and adoption gaining experience in working with children who have been taking from their home and the families that take them in. I also gain experience in working with the court system and caseworkers that I will work with in my future career. I chose this internship because of the incredible knowledge and skills it is providing me with to better prepare me for any job in this field.

I have learned an enormous amount since I have been at Arizona’s Children Association but the most important thing I think would be how to work with a team in a professional atmosphere. I have learned a lot about the court system and child protective services, the impacts that abuse and neglect has on children and about foster care in general. One of my best experiences with this agency was visiting a family that currently has five foster children. My team and I went to visit one of the little boys who is living there to talk to him and see how he is doing on his objectives that he made with his therapist. This little boy has been through a lot and has a hard time staying out of trouble. This family has done amazing things for the children that they have in their home and this little boy is having some of the same problems that one of the older children had when he first arrived. Three years later that child has done a complete 360° and it is so exciting that he is going to have the same chance and this family is going to help him. This is one of my favorite stories just because I get so excited thinking that this little boy three years from now can be in the same place his older foster brother is in and that there is hope for these children that have been hurt and abandoned.

My advice to those considering doing the internship program is simple, GO FOR IT and make sure that you find the place that will give you the best experience in the field you are interested in. I know it was one of the best things I have done as a college student.

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