Spotlight on CFCS: Derek Burton

There are countless stories that live within our walls at CFCS, but not all of them come from the children and families we work with. Our employees –  the social workers, case managers, interns, admins and directors who make our agency run smoothly – are the reason for our success as an organization. They also happen to be interesting people with quite a few good stories of their own!  

We’re highlighting the rich experiences and perspectives our staff bring to the office with a series on the blog called “Spotlights on CFCS”. Today we’re celebrating Derek Burton, our Putnam Place Clinical Case Manager! 

Tell us a bit about yourself! 

I came to Boston in the fall of 2018 to get my MSW from Boston University. Through my master’s program, I was placed in an internship at CFCS. I started out at CFCS as a case management intern at Putnam Place. 

I earned my Bachelor's in social work from Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, PA. During that time, I spent a year working with Pennsylvania’s Child Welfare Services department. I got a lot of good experience working with that state department, but I didn’t always like the dynamic. I was interested in practicing more thoughtful and person-focused ways to go about certain interventions. 

When I came here and got placed at CFCS, I was really happy that it was different in that we’re not a state agency, we're a connector. We connect youth to these agencies they have to work with -- DCF, DDS, DMH -- and we help them navigate that world.  

What does your job entail? 

I manage the day to day responsibilities and tasks that the residents have to do, including going to school or work. If there’s a barrier to them being able to go to school or work, I make sure we’re addressing it. I make sure residents are going to their doctor’s appointments, and that we’re accompanying them if they’re under 18. We’re supporting residents to gain medical independence so they can manage that by themselves once they leave our program. And I do weekly therapeutic check-ins with all residents. We talk about their general emotional affects, any big issues that are coming up for them that week, and how I and the other Putnam staff can support them. 

Derek shares about a recent permanency success for one of our Putnam Place residents.

How does permanency factor into your work? 

After a resident identifies an adult they’d like to have a supportive, permanent relationship with, we usually initiate that connection by asking the adult for a smaller amount of support, such as, would you be willing to take the resident to his doctor’s appointment every month? Or, would you be willing to talk to him on the phone once every two weeks? Usually, through these small initial commitments, we see that door open to a stronger connection, even if it happens slowly. For our residents, to know that there are people in the world who will be there for you is meaningful, because they haven’t always known that in the past.  

It’s so powerful to see when permanency efforts go well. Our residents are often averse to any type of permanency work because they already have this expectation of rejection. They feel like, relying on adults hasn’t worked for me up to this point because I’m 18 and in a group home. So they’re initially more focused on applying for APPLA, and planning to live on their own. 

A big part of permanency work is supporting youth as they ask these adults questions they’re afraid to ask. It’s asking parents, aunts and uncles, mentors, teachers and other adults, in what way do you see yourself being able to help and be there for that resident? Often we get answers we don’t anticipate, like weekly invitations for residents to come over and cook dinner. Those little opportunities can yield really positive results for our residents. 

How has the quarantine affected life at Putnam and your work with the residents? 

This job has opened my eyes to a lot of experiences, and personalized a lot of experiences that I think are so easy to depersonalize… Immigration, mental health, trauma – all these things affect real people with faces, names, life experiences. 

We’ve been unable to celebrate all the big benchmarks we usually celebrate for our residents. For example, we had three residents graduate high school, and we were unable to throw a big party for them like we usually do. And we won’t be able to have gatherings at the house where we can invite their families. Frankly it feels horrible that they’re unable to have access to things that like right now. 

There’s this overarching concern for the ways COVID could or might impact Putnam, in terms of how it would affect staffing, residents’ access to things, and the residents’ jobs and schooling. I can’t speak for everybody, but it makes me feel on edge.  

The house is split in terms of online education. Half the guys have been able to manage within these circumstances, since they’re a little more receptive to online learning model. The other half are not the type of learners who do well in this format. It’s really been a struggle for them to get as much out of virtual school as they would out of in-person education. 

What’s your favorite part of your job? 

100% spending time with the guys. It’s so fun. There are times where things are a little more stressful, but I feel blessed that they see me as someone they can throw spaghetti at the wall with, and talk through stuff with. Getting to be that support for our residents feels special. 

What’s one thing you’d want people to know about your job? 

This job has opened my eyes to a lot of experiences, and personalized a lot of experiences that I think are so easy to depersonalize. I’m so grateful for this job’s constant reminders about issues around immigration, mental health, trauma – all these things affect real people with faces, names, life experiences, things they like and don’t like. That’s something we can really lose when we talk about these issues so abstractly. 

Sometimes I think people are encouraged to oversimplify, just by the nature of the work; people are encouraged not to get too emotionally invested. It makes sense in terms of self-preservation, but there has to be room for those human elements. 

If we’re going to address the systemic side of these problems, we really have to recognize the urgency for so many of these youth. We should focus on the personal narratives, but we also have to use that focus to make systemic change happen.