Feature Story Draft

Will Grossenbacher notes

Interview with grandad-


(Not a question just a little background information about attendance work as far as being a social worker goes.)

If a teacher notices a child is not attending regularly then they report that to the principal and the principal will call me and let me know and I will go out to the child's residence and contact the parents and try to see what the problem is, and see if there's anything that the school can do to help, because attendance is critical, if a child doesn't attend school, they can't do the work and they fall behind, and it creates all kinds of problems so attendance is very important.

What year was it when you first started out, and what school?

1998, I believe I had retired from my own business at the time doing social work for attorneys and I had retired from that and a good friend of mine who was superintendent of schools talked me in to helping out for a time and that was in 1998. And I'm still doing it although I've limited myself to a couple days a week now.

What school was it?

Right, Madisonville... Actually I do work for the whole school district, high school, junior high, intermediate, elementary and also the alternate or alternative school.

Note: Madisonville school district. MCISD

What was the most interesting thing that you encountered when you had to go to one of the kid's houses?

One thing I've noticed over time is if a family has some sort of trauma, if they have an automobile accident or a house burns down, obviously it creates a problem, and it interferes with their ability to attend school to concentrate on their work at school and that sort of thing. So I've seen some of those sort of things. It's always difficult for a student if their family undergoes some sort of trauma but they have to keep up with their school work.

Do you have a specific story about what trauma somebody went through?

Without divulging anybodies identity or anything I can just tell you I've been in situations where there's been automobile accidents, there's been house fires, I remember one situation where there was a homicide in the family unit. Anything like that that interrupts the child's education. Many things can do that that's stressful so some things might not be as stressful as others.

So there was a homicide?

In one situation, like I said, without getting into specifics (peoples names) I can remember one situation a number of years ago where there was a homicide in the family unit.

How did they try to get the child back on track?

Usually there's a number of resources in the community. If the family is active in the church a lot of times the pastors may help with some training and counseling,  might be able to help in that way. There are also medical facilities, the family doctor may be able to refer them to a counselor, so there's a number of resources that are available to students and also the school has counselors within the school district. Each school, high school, junior high, intermediate, and elementary all have counselors that are trained and are able to help some of these children if they have a problem like that.

My dad told me there was a story about how at one point you went to a house and there seemed to have been a party going on the previous night and the kid was really tired, could you tell me more about that?

In general, habits are important and if a child is, or if the children in a family are allowed to choose their own bedtime, they may go to bed at one o' clock in the morning after playing a game on their phone or on their computer or whatever. So obviously the next day in class they're not gonna be attentive and they can't listen and that sort of thing. It's important for families to set guidelines for the children and to make sure that they get enough rest so that when they go back to school the next day they'll be able to participate.

Did you usually see positive results after helping children out?

Yeah. Sometimes it depends really on the family unit and what kind of resources they have, and what sort of attitude they bring to it. If they're really interested and concerned about the welfare of their children, then they'll be more receptive to questions, If they have their own problems, and many times they do, then they're less able to provide guidance and assistance to the children. In other words to act as a parent.

Did you have any situations where you just had to remove the child from the situation?

What we do in a case where we find that the child's at risk is we report that to the Texas Department of Human Services, and the Child Welfare Division, and they take it from there.

So it's usually pretty benign, just kids not getting enough sleep, and cutting class?

Right. That sort of thing. The family could be having problems in a number of ways. For example it could be financial, they could be stressed financially, loss of a job, that sort of thing. It could be any number of reasons why. The family may be disrupted, I've had situations where the father and sometimes the mother too have been incarcerated. And sometimes the children were put in the care of grandparents, aunts uncles, family members, that sort of thing. That's obviously disruptive to the kids.

Have you ever had a situation where there was a child that was just alone?

There's two ways that a child can become damaged. One of them is from neglect, by not providing the proper care and supervision. And the other is through abuse, where the child may actually be injured. Emotionally or physically, and I've seen both of those.

I guess you always have to be ready for a call all the time, do you just get the calls and go?

That's it. Basically I'm on call and I depend on referrals from teachers to the principal, and the principal usually or the counselor, either one at school will call me and ask me to make a home visit for them and tell me at the time what there concerns are.

Do you ever end up going into the house and inspecting it?

Usually when I go out I knock on the door and ask them if I can come in, depending on the attitude of the parents and the situation and the severity. It may be a child has only missed 3 or 4 days of school and a teacher is concerned because, again, it's of critical importance that they attend so that they can keep up and do the work. So yeah when I go out to make a home visit, I may look as I drive up to the home to see if it's maintained or if it's neglected or how it looks and that sort of thing. One thing that I always look for is dogs running loose. I don't wanna be bitten. When I drive up to a residence I usually blow the horn and holler, "I'm a social worker, do you have any dogs that bite?"

Do you keep any kind of weapon?

No. Nothing. I do have a walking stick but I need it [for] my back, I have some problems with my back, and I keep a walking stick in the truck to help me get around and to fend off bulldogs.



Interview with Mom-

Can you tell me about Grandad's earlier days in social work?

When I was in middle school and high school, he was a medical social worker for-(I think he said something about an old business where he was a law social worker?) Yeah he did that for a while and he also has a masters degree in social work and is a licensed professional counselor. So he at one point I know he was managing a facility for people that where transitioning from mental health and mental retardation facilities back out into the general population, another name for those would be a halfway house,  not for prisoners but for people that were transitioning back into the general population, but they need a little care and guidance. So my understanding is that he was managing a place where these men would be getting out of their situation where they were in a mental hospital dealing with mental health issues