DENISE:
I'm Denise
and I'm a Child
Protection Worker
with the Public Service.
I knew from the beginning
when I started my education
that I wanted to do
Child Protection
and become a Child Protection
Social Worker,
so I started out doing
my first two years of school
and then took a break
and worked running
a Young Parent Program.
And then after I completed that,
and worked in
the Young Parent Program
for two years,
I then went to university
for two more
and completed my Specialization
in Child Protection.
Children need someone 
to look out for them
and to be able to protect them,
and so that's why 
I decided to go into
Child Protection.
It's trying to ensure that
they're somewhere safe,
their home environment's safe...
I worked with a 12-year-old girl
who was quite street-entrenched.
She ran away from where she was
staying quite frequently.
Both of her parents
were deceased.
She didn't have any supports
or any access to anything.
She didn't have a connection
with anyone individually,
so it was great to be able
to work very hard
to be able to have that child
be able to trust someone
to be able to want to get
some help,
to be able to get connected
to a psychologist,
to look at their
physical health,
look at their environment
around them
and be able to get them
connected with those supports
so that when they 
move along in life
that they are able to cope
with things
and cope with crises
if they come along.
So what I like best about my job
is there is variety.
Every day is different,
I'm always doing
something different.
I do intake
so I work with families
when they're in crisis mode,
so it's having the resources
and having to think quick
on my feet
and be able to provide family
with the needs
when they're in a crisis
or need assistance,
especially with children
when they do have a
family-home environment
that we need to provide
supports for.
I like every aspect of my job.
I like the fact that every day
is different.
I like being able to work with
children in schools,
be able to talk to children,
interviewing them,
working with parents
and just trying to figure out
what we can do as a community
in order to make life
a little bit easier on kids.
