My life.

My name is Sheila Davis. I need to provide you with some information about my life before I tell you why I became a social worker. I have 4 children, two boys and 2 girls. I have 2 grandchildren, one boy age 6 and one girl who is 18 months. My boys were the ones to have kids and not my girls. This was very surprising to me. I was a single parent who basically raised all four of my children with little help from the father. Just so you know he died in 2005. We were married for nine years and I think most of those years I was subjected to abuse. My kids are all adults now and live their own lives. I recently lost one of my sons to a vehicle accident and spend as much time as I can with the remaining three. I have not been able to see my grandson since the accident but I am currently working on that matter. Raising my kids was tough and I did some things I am not proud of but we managed to get through it. I learned along the way and I think my children turned out okay. They have their problems and I blame myself because of the lifestyle I chose to live. I realize this now and this has been the reason I became a social worker. I want to help those families and children who are experiencing some of the things I put my children through. I sit back and study my kids and have learned that they show the effects of the abuse. They are living proof that they were affected. I want to make sure the parents are aware that what they are doing right now will affect their children when they become adults.  I have been working as a social worker for five years and before that I managed housing. I discovered while I was managing houses I was also connected and had immediate contact with the lives of the tenants. So in a sense I was doing social work then. I have an associate degree in social science which I received in 1991 and I am starting my BA this semester in social work. You could say I am doing it backwards because I am already a social worker but have no education pertaining to it. I have the life skills though and I think in this job it carries more weight than the formal education. My goal is to continue to work for child welfare because I enjoy what I do. Later, I might work on getting my LCSW. I am apprehensive to learning the formal education because I am afraid I will fail. I have anxiety right now because it feels like I am carrying a full load and it has been a long time since I have carried a full load. I work full time and worry about not having enough time to complete all of the assignments when they are due. I am proud of myself for continuing with my education even though it is very scary. That about sums it up for me except one more thing, I have a great relationship with the tribes as my children are ¼ Karuk. My oldest daughter weaves beautiful baskets the traditional way. I help her gather materials. This is a tough job.