Beginning

Welcome to my blog, I am so thrilled to walk this journey. I intend to use this blog to document my experiences and learning while undertaking my IDRP course. I am enrolled in IDRP1 currently and will be taking the placement option for my IDRP 2 later next year.

Finding a placement host was no easy, I remember sending applications to at least 12 organizations. At some point, I was fed up sending application and decided to go physically to the organizations. Half the time I was turned away at the reception because I did not have an appointment but I was determined. As a last resort, I wrote an email to my teacher Debbie, she was delighted to hear from me and gave me a referral with African Family Services. She mentioned that in the course of her work, she had interacted with the directors of AFS and thought I would be a good fit. She gave me a glowing recommendation landing me an Interview with the Organization and the rest is history.

African Family Services was started by two amazing African Australian women, Lorraine Baloyi and Kapambwe Mumba. These women came to Australia as International students. Kapambwe has a background in social work and Lorraine in corporate law and project management. The two shared their experiences about how difficult it had been for Africans migrating and living in Melbourne to connect to mainstream services. For the most part, many did not know about different services available for them. This lack of information birthed the concept of an African Australian support service. The idea was executed in one of their lounge room and from it grew African Family Services.

After securing my placement and my WIL agreement was signed, I submitted a proposal on what I would want to research on for my placement. My proposal is about the invisible child. This refers to children within the context of family violence. In many cases, when case workers intervene in a case of family violence, they often concentrate on the adults involved (perpetrator and victim) and hardly do we hear about support services for the children. In my reflective research report at the end of my IDR2 will dig deeper into the invisible child and explore what can be done to make them visible in development practice.