Adoption interns make a difference

Over the last nine months, Hillside Children’s Center’s Adoption Services have had the good fortune to have four amazing interns serving children and families.

Erin Pena, Rebecca Coppenrath, and Leia Barkman, who are all Masters of Social Work degree students at Roberts Wesleyan College, took active roles in providing adoption services to children and families.

Erin primarily worked with Jacquie Morrison, assisting families in our International Adoption program. Rebecca and Leia primarily worked with Linda Harris, assisting families seeking to adopt through our Waiting Child Adoption program. Jennifer Castonguay assisted Mike Finn with AdoptMent and Lisa Petrosino with Wendy's Wonderful Kids.

The interns gained skills in interviewing, assessment, writing homestudies, navigating the child welfare system, group facilitation, and the intricacies of working inside of an agency.
All of us at Hillside’s Adoption Services are pleased to report that both Leia Barkman and Jennifer Castonguay have been hired as permanent staff members. Leia is a social worker with Hillside Children’s Center’s Monroe Region therapeutic foster care team and Jenn is a skillbuilder in adoption services. All four interns made valuable contributions to our program and services.

Pictured left to right in photo: Front row-Rebecca Coppenrath, Leia Barkman, Erin Pena, Lisa Maynard, and Jacquie Morrison; Back row-Mike Carroll, Shari Bartlett, Cecelia Spinelli, and Linda Harris.