Originally published April 24, 2015
By Laura L. Acosta
UTEP News Service
As a social worker with Child Protective Services (CPS) in El Paso, Marcela Ordoñez is striving to help families by ensuring that parents have the support and resources they need to provide their children with a healthy and safe environment.
Ordoñez, who is in her final semester of the Master of Social Work (MSW) Program at The University of Texas at El Paso, is the first student to complete the Child Welfare Training Project in the College of Health Sciences.
Funded by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services through a Title VI-E program, the Child Welfare Training Project offers specialized training in child welfare to CPS employees who are pursuing their graduate degrees in social work at UTEP.
“I’d always thought about getting my master’s degree, but I had too much going on in my life,” said Ordoñez, who balanced a full-time job at CPS and her graduate studies with her personal life. “It is hard but CPS works with you because they want you to succeed, and I felt very supported by the University as well.”
The training includes content relevant to Title IV-E child and family services policies, programs and practices. Participants receive instruction in service referrals, preparation for judicial determinations, placement of children, development of case plans, case reviews, and case management and supervision.
As part of their training, students in the 60-hour MSW program take specific electives in child welfare. The program is three years long and CPS employees receive a stipend to cover the last two years of their graduate education. Administrators expect five students to graduate from the program each year.
“We are thrilled that our valuable partnership with UTEP’s social work department has provided our community with the first CPS Student Graduate, Marcela Ordoñez,” said Diana Barajas, CPS regional director for the El Paso area. “It is with great pride that our agency recognizes the achievements of Mrs. Ordoñez in completing her Master of Social Work while maintaining her full-time employment with CPS as well as supporting her family full time. She has led the way for additional CPS workers to enroll in the master’s program, further enhancing the skills and expertise of our workforce in providing for the unique needs of our El Paso-Juárez community.”
Ordoñez, a family team meeting facilitator at CPS, acts as a neutral mediator between the Department of Family and Protective Services and the families of children who are at risk for being removed from their parents’ custody for abuse or neglect.
Ordoñez facilitates up to 15 meetings a month between parents and their support network with the supervisor and caseworker at CPS. Together, they create a plan to address concerns relating to the safety and well-being of a child. The goal of the meeting is to effectively engage family members in the case planning processes in order to unify children with their parents or to find them a safe and permanent placement, preferably with relatives.
“It’s all laid out so by the time (the parents) walk out of that meeting, that family knows this is exactly what they need to do to have their case closed successfully,” said Ordoñez, who credits the training program with teaching her how to build better rapport with the families. “At the end of the day, we want the child to be in a safe protective home and that’s what the family wants, too. So it’s kind of like everyone saying, ‘OK look, this is where we’re at, and yes it looks really bad, but there’s always a solution and let’s figure out that solution together.’”
Ordoñez joined CPS 10 years ago as a caseworker. She earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from UTEP, but developed an interest in social work after her grandmother became ill. Even though she received on-the-job training at CPS, Ordoñez never felt like she could call herself a social worker because she lacked the formal education of a social worker.
According to Adam McCormick, Ph.D., UTEP MSW program coordinator, only about one-third of public child welfare workers in Texas have a social work background.
Title IV-E programs, including the Child Welfare Training Project, are a great way to professionalize the workforce by providing child welfare workers like Ordoñez with a stronger skill set to empower and engage youth and their families, McCormick said.
“The grant really serves the community in two ways,” McCormick explained. “First, the program will help to train current CPS workers and provide them with the skill set and knowledge to advance within the agency. In addition, the program helps to train a public child welfare workforce in the area of social work.”
For Ordoñez, the Child Welfare Training Project has not only allowed her to obtain her master’s degree, but also to apply the theories she learned in class and make evidence-based decisions when dealing with her clients.
“Marcela has improved her assessment skills and has a better understanding of assessing cases,” said James Varela, Ordoñez’s CPS supervisor. “Marcela now looks at all the systems involved in a case and has a better understanding of family dynamics and how it can affect outcomes in her families. I also believe that she has a better understanding of cultural diversity and community resources.”
Ordoñez acknowledged that without the support from CPS, UTEP and her family, she would not have been able to complete the program.
Her first semester, her husband was diagnosed with cancer. Ordoñez was ready to drop out of school when her husband encouraged her to stay in the program for the future of their children, ages four, six and eight.
Ordoñez persevered. She dropped one class and worked with her employer and her instructors in the Department of Social Work to continue her studies while she traveled with her husband to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
CPS also provided her educational leave, which allowed her to attend class during the workday. This semester, in addition to working Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Ordoñez is taking two classes and is completing a 16-hour practicum at Sierra Medical Center.
“I joke that I end up going to sleep at 3 a.m. because I stay up really late to study or I end up waking up at 3 a.m. to do whatever it is that I need to do,” said Ordoñez, who has a 3.6 GPA.
Three years after starting the MSW program, Ordoñez’s husband’s cancer is in remission and she is ready to graduate from UTEP in May.
“It’s funny because now I do consider myself a social worker,” a proud Ordoñez said. “I didn’t see it that way before. I was filling out an application for my kid’s school and it asked,’ What is your profession?’ and I said, ‘Social worker!’ Now I can say that.”