Helping in Child Protective Services

As a young girl, I've felt destined to give advice and help others in their personal situations. Although, some situations are more serious than others which can be discouraging. I've consistently told myself there will always be someone in need of being heard, helped, or protected. As I grew older, I never thought to what extent I would do to help other people. I knew I wanted to continue to help others in the future, especially in my career but how? Would it be by being in a medical room giving cardiopulmonary resuscitation to someone or giving physical therapy to a senior citizen? However, as time passed I attended college which completely expanded my horizons. I discovered other ways I could help people I never thought about doing. After my discovery, I realized that after graduation I wanted to work for Child Protective Services more specifically a CPS Family Based Safety Services Specialist. I am inspired and desire to work for this organization because, as I grew up, I realized that not every person had a loving and protective childhood. I began my research and looked up the purpose and duties of the profession as well as job qualifications, benefits, and salary. In addition, I filled out an application and learned about the application process for this profession and prepared a resume. I also researched job interview questions and job interview board. By researching and preparing myself for this profession I will be confident and ready on what's to come.

First off a little background of what a CPS Family Based Safety Services Specialist is or FBSSS for short. An FBSSS job begins right after a family has been investigated. Their purpose is to help families change their old methods in order to protect their children from neglect and abuse. FBSSS help families resolve situations that lead to neglecting a child or abuse by recommending them appropriate actions. They also help support a family by finding their own strengths to be able to keep a child safe while conserving a family. Some of the duties an FBSSS do are to immediately respond to crisis situations, removing a child from a dangerous situation, interact with people who have abused or neglected a child in their care, and discuss human sexuality and exploitation of children in a direct way and objective manner. These duties may seem intimidating to some people, however, these duties are the reason why I want to work for CPS. Some conditions or job qualifications are to possess a Texas Drivers License and conduct a criminal background check and CPS history checks on all applicants. You must have a Bachelors degree or Associates degree plus 2 years of relevant work experience or on the other hand, you must have 60 college credit hours plus 2 years of relevant work experience or 90 college credit hours plus 1 year of relevant work experience. Relevant work experience can be anything related to human, social, or protective services which can be paid or volunteer work. The starting salary for a FBSSS is from the range of $3816.65 to $4094.50 per month based on your experience and qualifications. In addition, there are opportunities for careers advancement which will increase your pay. Lastly, the benefits for a FBSSS are health benefits that include the employee working for CPS and their family. There is also the State of Texas Retirement where DFPS and the state contribute retirement funds for your whole career and the 401(k) that come from your investments similarly to how social security retirement income works. I believe that researching about this particular career can help me and guide me for the next step to pursue it which is employment application or the application process.

Applying for CPS seems to be fairly easy since the application is available online at the Texas Department of Family Protective Services site. The application requires to fill out information like my date of birth, residence, education, special training, skills, qualifications as well as ethnicity and other languages I'm able to speak. To fill out this application I must first create an account with Health and Human Services System by searching 'HHSC Job Center.' Next, I will complete a State of Texas Application so I could be considered for any DFPS Jobs and upload my resume. This application can be submitted by fax and mail as well. Second, I will search for a job I'm most interested in at 'HHS Job Center'. Here I will pick my preferred city to work in and what agency which in my case is ""Department of Family and Protective Services."" After I find my desired job which is being Family Based Safety Services Specialist I can go ahead and submit my electronic application as well as my resume.

I don't have much experience in making a resume this will be my first time conducting one. It includes my contact information on where to find me and reach me and a brief statement about my future expectations. It also contains my job experiences which are in 4 different workplaces and the current job I have now as a sales associate. As well as my level of education which is currently a high school graduate, however, not for long because this upcoming December I will be receiving associates in science. The last part on my resume contains my skills and one other language I can speak besides English. Appendix B will have an attached paper to prove my Spanish learning accomplishment. After the agency receives my application and resumes they'll see I will be qualified for this job which will then lead them to grant me a job interview.

Job interviews make me nervous they make other people nervous as well. Although, I've been nervous in the job interviews I've done before they've always been successful for the fact that every interview I've had I've been hired. At the beginning of a job interview, I can seem very anxious, however, as I'm asked questions I ease up because I know what to say and how to explain it. I let my personality or character take the lead because its how I best show my communication skills. I think some of the most important communication skills I should use in this particular interview are to be confident, to speak with clarity and volume, and active listening. Using these communication skills I believe could impact the candidate whos interviewing me. A question like ""how do you handle stressful situations,"" will be asked and I must make sure my answer produces confidence, volume, and clarity. Some other questions I'll be asked are, ""Describe a time when you made a lasting impact on a child and their family. Was their ever a policy, or decision you didn't agree with, what was it, and how did you address the issue? In what ways have you shown that you have a passion for helping people?""

Lastly, job interview boards are necessary for an organization like this. I believe there should be more than one candidate deciding whether I have the potential to work for this organization. I don't have experience in job interview boards, however, having more than one candidate deciding within themselves if I'm qualified enough is better than one candidate coming up with a decision by themselves.

All in all, I am inspired and desire to work for this organization because growing up made me realize not every person had a childhood full of love and protection. Which is why I began my research in this profession. I learned about the job qualifications, benefits, and salary. In addition, I filled out an application and learned about the application process and prepared a resume. I also took a look at some of the job interview questions a FBSSS are asked and learned about a job interview board. By researching and preparing myself for this profession I will be confident and ready on what's to come.

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