The Social NetWorker

Outside Looking In (Part Two)

(This is a guest post by Megan Elizabeth Morris.)

You might have guessed from the way I started Part One that assistance for Michelle's care didn't continue to come easily as the years went on. I imagine that many people have never been "in the system" and wouldn't know where to go to get in -- and how frustrating it must be for those who can see both sides of it, who remember how easy it was to get help once upon a time and now can't fathom what has changed. There is no doubt that communication is at fault, and not just person-to-person communication. We're talking person-to-system communication.

Situations like these make me crave details. What can we change just a little that will produce Big Results? What information can we make available to just the right people? What website can we build to respond to just the right search terms, and put that information to work? How can we close as many of these little gaps as possible?

Situations like these make me want to closely evaluate the success stories. How on earth did that social worker find Michelle, and what was her job description that she was able to step in so easily with solutions? I can speculate, but I don't really know the answers -- and I'm sure many of you do. Was she employed at the hospital, working with all handicapped babies born there on her watch? And if so, where is her counterpart to the outside world? Or, where is her counterpart to "alumni" of the same hospital, helping the people who had help once upon a time and still need it now?

I won't find real answers until I ask better questions, but of course you see the point. This isn't about one child in one situation. It's about finding the gaps in the system and closing them so that good people have access to the help they need. That's what we're about, right? Helping people who need us -- not just the people who are close at hand.

If we can help them in a big way by making a tiny change, something that takes a comparatively infinitessimal amount of effort, I feel we must. Those are the solutions I quest after.

But what ever did happen to the care Michelle was receiving? She's still glorious, by the way -- she totally digs music, presses her head against the big speakers in Angel's house and looks like the happiest kid in the universe. We were all at the park a few weeks ago, and Angel coaxed Michelle to walk while I recorded a video clip -- all on her own in the sun and the green trees and the cool breeze. It was rockin'. Where do beautiful, warm and loving people like these friends go when they don't know where to turn? And what's stopping them?

I'm certain the answers exist -- but the next part of the story will have to wait till Tuesday!

Megan Elizabeth Morris (email)
Ms. Morris writes at Personal Revelations of the Magnificent Megan M. Megan Elizabeth Morris, or The Magnificent Megan M., [proper noun]: Superhuman font of knowledge, skill, determination & resourcefulness. Exudes enzymes that cause others to surpass their potential. Master thinker; writes, designs, manages, ideastorms, markets, inspires, connects, grows, teaches, makes things happen, changes the world, and throws a mean right hook. (Okay. Not the last one. Well! Not literally.)