Whistle-Blower #2

    Trying to prevent this tragedy, Senior Social Worker Sue Royster of the Williamsburg Social Service Bureau - the second smallest public welfare office in Virginia, called York County Social Services Department because Tammy like Steve was a foster child. Unfortunately, Tammy was in the "care" of York County Social Services. York County bordered the east side of the Williamsburg, and it was suffering the delusion that it was the best, most sophisticated public social services department or bureau in the state. I know because I was from there before becoming director of the Williamsburg bureau.
    But when Sue called York County Social Services, to her horror, she was told that Tammy was not their foster child. They didn't even know who their foster children were! My social worker explained to them that she knew Tammy was their foster child. No matter. She wasn't according to them. Case closed. In desperation, Sue turned to me. I was confident of Sue's analysis of the situation and dire prediction. I could see the train coming too. Sue was an extremely conscientious person, and I had witnessed the tragedies that public social workers routinely deal with give her headaches so bad that she had to leave work. But not before throwing up in the parking lot. Unfortunately, Sue and I were not emotionally close. One possible reason was that she may have interviewed for my job as director when I was applying for it too. She may have felt that she should have won the position over me as she had years of social work and social work supervision behind her, and I had only been a Senior Social Worker at York County one year. But I had also had four years as a vocational rehabilitation counselor, had a master's in rehabilitation counseling and had a pioneering paper on contract counseling published, sole author, in a major counseling journal. Peter Nickerson, MS, MSW.  352-359-0850