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ePaper created 2015-12-01, 11:30:18 | version 1.43.00
11akzente 1/15 A home visit to a foster family: the two social workers’ dark brown SUV pulls into the driveway of a small detached house on the East Side. The foster mother is already waiting on the veranda. ‘She’s looking after a young boy who’s been let down by the adults in his life – first his mom and then his grandmother,’ Kelly Allen ex- plained to her colleague Ingrid Bethge on the jour- ney. ‘But with this family, he seems to be thriving at last.’ The living room is simple but homely, with a deep sofa, a framed antique map of the world on the wall, and a pot of bright yellow asters on the window sill. Ingrid, a motherly woman with a mass of short brown curls and red spectacles, settles into a cosy grey arm- chair, leans forward and starts on her list of questions. What’s it like, suddenly having a six-year-old in the house? Is there a support network when the going gets tough? The fos- ter mother answers patiently. Then she sud- denly bursts into laughter. ‘You’re asking some very good questions,’ she says. ‘And I love your accent!’ It’s day 59 in Ingrid Bethge’s new life in the city of Kalamazoo, located halfway be- tween Chicago and Detroit, with a popula- tion of 75,000. A social worker from Ger- many, Ingrid is spending three months on an exchange on this side of the Atlantic, with the aim of broadening her professional horizons. She is currently an intern with Bethany, a non-profit organisation which provides fam- ily support services. She accompanies her US colleagues on home visits and to court, at- tends seminars at Western Michigan Univer- sity, and lives with host families. The set-up is reminiscent of a school exchange – but Ingrid is 55 years old and a senior manager. After qualifying as a nurse, Ingrid took time out to have a family and then trained as a social worker. For the past seven years, she has worked for KarLa, a non-profit organisa- tion providing family support services in Weingarten near Karlsruhe. From boardroom in Germany to classroom in the US At home, Ingrid is a team leader and a member of KarLa’s management board. It’s a highly re- sponsible job – but it also involves a great deal of routine work. Last year, Ingrid started feeling restless. ‘The excitement of the early days had vanished. I didn’t want to leave KarLa, but I needed a new challenge.’ So she applied to join the transatlantic professional exchange pro- gramme, which GIZ has been organising on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Fam- ily Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth since 2013. The programme is designed for ex- perienced social workers and offers 10 intern- ships in the US every year. Some of the interns come to Kalamazoo, while others go to Chicago or Columbus, Ohio. They are placed with health authorities, homes for disadvantaged » ‘You’re asking some very good questions.’ A foster mother (centre) welcomes Ingrid Bethge (left) and her colleague Kelly Allen. New techniques: Ingrid learns how trauma- tised children can be encouraged to replay their family dynamics in the sandpit, aided by toy animals.