As I embark on my twelve-month accelerated social work master’s program, I plan to continue to keep the Lord as the top priority in my life. I plan to continue to attend Sunday church services, Wednesday night women’s group, and support my husband in his young adult ministry at Oasis Community Church as well. I plan to continue to stay in prayer constantly, asking the Lord for His provision and guidance during this next year. I have been a full-time social worker for the past fifteen years. I got baptized in 2011, during my first year of social work, along with my husband. At the time, I was working at the Department of Child Safety and faced being ostracized for openly being a believer and follower of Jesus Christ. I applied at a non-profit faith-based organization, Christian Family Care, and was offered a part-time job. Although the hours did not align with our budgetary needs, I accepted the job in faith. My husband was given a significant raise the following day, praise God! I spent eight years supporting Christian foster families in getting licensed and caring for vulnerable children in the foster care system. I then transferred internally to the pregnancy department and began an on-call crisis pregnancy counselor job. I spent the past four years counseling women in deciding between parenting their baby or placing their baby for adoption. These counseling services allowed many women to choose life for their babies. I was privileged to attend the births of some of these babies and deeply cherish these memories. During the last year as a pregnancy counselor, the Lord began nudging me to consider that this chapter was coming to an end. Although my husband had recently entered ministry and taken a pay cut, we felt that the Lord was telling us that I should be home with our children over the next year and pursue my master’s degree online. Through my experience of being a crisis pregnancy counselor, being a mother of four, and becoming an adoptive mother, I feel strongly called to seek a career in labor, delivery, and post-partum social work. Now that I have a solid faith, deep relationship with the Lord, and feel comfortable in boldly discussing my faith, I am ready to re-enter the secular work environment and support women in their most vulnerable stage of life, childbirth. I look forward to offering hope in faith and planting seeds of faith in women who may be experiencing loss through miscarriage or stillbirth, have their child being removed by DCS, or are struggling with prenatal or postpartum depression or anxiety. I plan to seek employment at inner-city hospitals to have the maximum impact working with women and families who are walking through a difficult season of life. Thank you for your consideration in supporting me in pursuing further education to achieve the calling that the Lord has placed on my heart.

I have spent the last sixteen years working full-time in social work. Previous to beginning my career, I experienced an unplanned pregnancy during my BSW program and graduated one month before my daughter was born. In order to graduate before my daughter's birth, I completed a full-time class load and internship through spring and summer 2010 semesters. After three months off, I began my career at the Department of Child Safety as a child abuse investigator. After approximately two months, my husband and I (married during my pregnancy) both were baptized, saved, and began our lives living for the Lord. Although being a believer in the secular social work arena created tension and ostracization, I deeply value the variety of social work experience that I gained in this position. I was also able to share my beliefs and hope with co-workers who came to understand that I did not intend to judge or condemn them. Ultimately, after experiencing secondary PTSD through a highly traumatic case, I made the decision to move into another area of social work. I applied at a non-profit faith-based organization, Christian Family Care, and was offered a part-time job. Although the hours did not align with our budgetary needs, I accepted the job in faith. My husband was given a significant raise the following day, praise God! I then worked for eight years as a foster care licensing specialist and gained a significant amount of experience in assessing family dynamics and supporting families caring for vulnerable children in the foster care system. As my career interests and personal passions developed, I transferred to the pregnancy department of the non-profit that I was employed at. I have spent the last four years working as a crisis pregnancy counselor, providing decision making counseling to women experiencing an unplanned pregnancy, such as I had. These counseling services allowed many women to choose life for their babies. This position additionally allowed me to walk alongside women experiencing the worry and stress that I had experienced over a decade before. I became intimately familiar with substance abuse, mental health struggles, and intergenerational trauma. Often, I was the only woman in their life that provided unconditional love and acceptance to them, resulting in the frequent privilege of supporting my clients through labor and childbirth. While supporting women in both parenting planning and adoption planning, my husband and I were asked by a young woman in our church to adopt her unborn son. We had a long-standing desire to adopt and joyfully agreed to adopt her son. She allowed us to be involved in her prenatal appointments and the birth. We have had our son in our care since the time of his birth in September 2024 and continue to have a beautiful open adoption. Our son sees his birth mom, grandparents, aunts, and uncles one to two times per week, as well as his birth father at least monthly. It is because of the Lord's grace and my experience in adoption that we felt confident in being a part of such an open adoption. We are deeply fortunate to be a part of the adoption triad and understand the inner workings of each of our roles. During the last year as a pregnancy counselor, the Lord began nudging me to consider that this chapter was coming to end. Although my husband had recently entered ministry and taken a pay cut, we felt that the Lord was telling us that I should be home with our children over the next year and pursue an online master’s degree in order to move forward with my passions. Through my own unplanned pregnancy, my role as a crisis pregnancy counselor, and personally walking through the adoption process, I am extremely passionate about becoming a labor and delivery or postpartum social worker. I strongly desire to support the women that may be experiencing domestic violence, struggling with substance abuse, experiencing the loss of a newborn, or having their newborn removed during the most vulnerable time of their life. Additionally, I would like to become experienced in perinatal mental health disorders in order to provide therapy in that capacity. Completing an accelerated MSW program in 12 months has required me not to work and rely on student aid. My husband and I have four wonderful children, and he is a young adult pastor and running the non-profit supporting fatherless youth that we founded. Financial aid is crucial in my journey to successfully completing this graduate degree program, while also caring for four children. Thank you for your time and consideration!

I have spent the last sixteen years working full-time in social work. Prior to beginning my career, I experienced an unplanned pregnancy during my BSW program and graduated one month before my daughter was born. After three months off, I began my career at the Department of Child Safety as a child abuse investigator. I deeply value the variety of social work experience that I gained in this position. After experiencing secondary PTSD through a highly traumatic case, I decided to move into another area of social work. I then worked for eight years as a foster care licensing specialist, gaining significant experience assessing family dynamics and supporting families caring for vulnerable children in the foster care system. As my career interests and personal passions developed, I transferred to the pregnancy department of the non-profit where I was employed. I spent the last four years working as a crisis pregnancy counselor and providing decision-making counseling to women experiencing an unplanned pregnancy, such as I had. This position allowed me to walk alongside women experiencing the worry and stress that I had experienced over a decade before. I became intimately familiar with substance abuse, mental health struggles, and intergenerational trauma. Often, I was the only woman in their life that provided unconditional care and acceptance to them, resulting in the frequent privilege of supporting them through labor and childbirth. While supporting women in both parenting planning and adoption planning, my husband and I were asked by a young woman in our church to adopt her unborn son. We had a long-standing desire to adopt and joyfully agreed to adopt her son. She allowed us to be involved in her prenatal appointments and the birth. We have had our son in our care since the time of his birth in September 2024 and continue to have a beautiful open adoption. Our son sees his birth mom, grandparents, aunts, and uncles one to two times per week, as well as his birth father at least monthly. We are deeply fortunate to be a part of the adoption triad and understand the inner workings of each of our roles. Through my own unplanned pregnancy, my role as a crisis pregnancy counselor, and personally walking through the adoption process, I am extremely passionate about becoming a labor and delivery or postpartum social worker. I strongly desire to support the women who may be experiencing domestic violence, struggling with substance abuse, experiencing the loss of a newborn, or having their newborn removed during the most vulnerable time of their life. Additionally, I would like to become experienced in perinatal mental health disorders to provide therapy in that capacity. Completing an accelerated MSW program in 12 months has required me not to work and rely on student aid. My now husband and I have four wonderful children, and he is a young adult pastor and founded a non-profit supporting fatherless youth. Financial aid is crucial in my journey to successfully completing this graduate degree program, while also caring for four children. Thank you for your time and consideration!