Chelsea Burnette
Cordele Dispatch
Cordele —
CORDELE — Growing up, Jennifer Coleman never dreamed she would be in the career field where she finds herself today.
As a child, being a special education teacher was her ideal job. She went on to college and majored in education to fulfill this dream.
After working with the YMCA after-school program, she changed her major to sociology when she was nearing the end of college.
Coleman started working with the Department of Family and Children Services ten years ago in Americus. She transferred to Cordele seven years ago where she is now an investigator with DFCS. She also works in Family Preservation Services.
“My job has a lot of misconceptions,” Coleman says. “People tend to think I come to their home to tell them they are bad parents, but my job is to help alleviate a problem within the home in order to restore a child’s safety.”
Coleman works with families in a crisis to identify the problem and empower them to solve their problem which might require therapy.
“The very last thing we want to do,” Coleman says, “is remove a child from the home. Our basic goal is the safety of the child and that is all we are there to help with.”
Coleman said she has never worked with a family where the parents did not love their children. Sometimes parents just make the wrong decisions when handling a situation, she said.
“These families are not just a case number to me. They are part of my life,” she explains. “I become very close with them and I will remember these families forever.”
Coleman said the biggest challenge at this moment is dealing with the budget cuts. “We can’t financially assist the families like we used to,” she says. “The furlows also make it hard because time is precious.”
Her favorite part about her job is actually working with the families and seeing a positive change. She builds a bond with them which is very rewarding. When she sees success within the families, she said all her work seems worthwhile.
The least favorite part of her job is having to remove a child from his or her family and placing that child in foster care. “That’s really difficult for me,” she says.
“What keeps me going through the day is knowing that I am protecting these children,” Coleman explains. “The community has to work together and report child abuse or neglect when they see it.”
When she is not working with other families, Coleman is spending time with her husband, Kinney, and her one-year-old daughter, Conley. “I absolutely love motherhood,” she says.
Coleman also serves as secretary of the Crisp Prevent Child Abuse Council and meets with the Multi-Disciplinary Team once a month.
