I am absolutely livid that bureaucratic bullshit would get in the way of taking care of a child in need.
I scheduled an appointment with a counselor for my son. The appointment was at 6:30 and I arrived at 6:25 to be told that the counselor would not see us because we were supposed to be there at 6 to fill out paperwork.
The counselor came out and was very smug and unapologetic, basically saying that we didn't follow the rules and to try again another day. Because my son was there I didn't tell her exactly what was on my mind, but I did explain that it was a big effort to get there and I was very disappointed. (G rated version of the R rated way I was feeling).
What I didn't say was how dare she punish a child who needs help for their parent's oversight. Moreover, how dare she punish my beautiful, amazing child when I am actually making an effort to get help for him. It is so difficult to ask for therapeutic help in general and to ask for it for your child is even harder. She shat all over my effort and I left feeling furious on behalf of my son who was actually excited to go "visit his feelings" with a "teacher".
Having worked most of my adult life in the nonprofit realm I understand that rules are needed for boundaries between clients and to satisfy funders, but I am so angry I want to reach out to those funders and say that not making an exception for an exhausted, overworked single mother doing her best to raise a healthy and happy child WHO WAS NOT LATE FOR THE APPOINTMENT is not what the mission of Lifeworks is working toward and they should pull their funding and give it somewhere that the values, mission and execution are actually being met.
I left early from work (at 4:45) in north central Austin to pick up my son in South (of Ben White) Austin (5:30) to get to their location on North Pleasant Valley in East Austin and rushing through a grab and go dinner (5:55) to make it there early at all (6:20 I was in the parking lot). Her smug attitude made me feel like a terrible parent, despite me reaching out for help for my son and making every effort to get there.
Also, there was no point that I remember being told to be there 30 minutes early. It could have happened and I don't remember, but it definitely was not emphasized or restated in the appointment confirmation I received reminding me of my appointment at 6:30.
Bureaucratic bullshit preventing the kids they are trying to help from actually receiving help is completely antithetical of the mission of LifeWorks and I will be telling everyone I know to give their donations to places who actually help their clients (Like SafePlace, Austin Children's Shelter, YWCA, Capital Area Counseling). Maybe other programs within LifeWorks are better, but doubt it. read more