Emma Northrop

Agency: Aviva Children's Services

Term: Spring - 2004

My internship is with Aviva Children’s Services and I work at Arizona’s Child Protective Services. I am a Case Aide with Aviva and my main purpose is to assist a Case Manager with their duties. Aviva Children’s Services is a non-profit agency that was created to work with CPS and aid them in providing resources to children and families who are currently in the CPS system. This goal of aiding CPS is carried out by the three programs within Aviva. These three programs are the volunteer program, the visitation program, and the Arizona Children’s Fund, which provides money and supplies to children who may not have gotten those things otherwise.

My job as a Case Aide is very broad, as I assist my Case Worker in all aspects of her job from home visits, to going to court, to writing reports. My responsibilities also include disclosing documents to the courts, scheduling appointments, going to staffings, researching cases, and filing documents.

I decided to do an internship with CPS and Aviva because I have always wanted to work with abused and/or neglected children and I figured that working with Aviva would provide me with that experience. Prior to working with Aviva, I was very undecided about where I wanted to go in future careers and although I am still unsure, Aviva has given me a myriad of experiences that will make future decisions easier and will also give me the practical, hands-on skills that I need in order to base a career in this field.

After graduation from the University of Arizona with a B.A. in Psychology, I plan on going to graduate school to further my opportunities. I am not sure where I would like to go but I am thinking of either staying here in Tucson, going to school in California, or moving up to the northwest and going to school. I am unsure what I will be studying in a graduate program because I am undecided between continuing with Psychology and going in to Educational Psychology, studying child advocacy law, or becoming an elementary school teacher.

Since I started this internship, I have learned a lot not only about myself but also about the families that I work with. I have found that this may not necessarily be the job for me because I have a hard time separating my emotions from my job but it is an amazing experience. Some of the families that we work with have just had so many problems and their children are living with other relatives or in group homes. A majority of the mothers don’t have the skills or resources to take care of their children and most have serious drug problems. With the help of Aviva and CPS, many of those problems can be helped to reunify the family or the children can be placed permanently elsewhere. Either way, there is usually a good ending to every sad story.

I would definitely recommend working at Aviva if someone were thinking about going into this line of work. Working with this program is a great way to gain experience in the field of social services and will help to prepare you for a career in this area after college. The main advice I would give a potential intern at Aviva would be to be prepared for everything that you will see because at times, it is a really emotionally taxing job.

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

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