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One day in the life of Jessica Evans
Children and Young People’s Support Worker
Region: Midland
It’s early morning, around 7.30am and Jess, struggling with a heavy cold, leaves her house for another day as an FCA Children and Young Person’s Support Worker. She drives through the Midlands’ Black Country to pick up ‘JG’ and take him to school.
9.05am: Jess heads to the Midlands office to get her next assignment. Today there’s a few colleagues stopping by the office so they get a chance to catch up.
11.00: After checking the internet and a few maps, Jess hits the road and drives 50 miles to Rugby to care for a little girl called ‘EK’. Before doing this job, Jess didn’t drive that much and certainly wasn’t used to constantly checking road maps!
Whilst driving, Jess reflects a little about how she joined FCA. Surprisingly, her previous job was in a pub. She also worked in a nursery and loved working with children. Three years ago, she was thrilled to find out that FCA were looking for people to join the Midlands team. She initially joined part time, but after 6 months, and an NVQ level 3 in Child Care and Development with Outcomes UK, Jess was employed full time; and full time means, all the time!
12.00: After several phone calls, Jess finally finds ‘EKs’ home. She enters the house and immediately receives a big hug from this beautiful 3 year old girl. Whilst ‘EKs’ carers meet with their Social Worker, Jess and ‘EK’ head to the playroom to watch an educational video together- ‘learning to read’ ‘EK’ shows Jess some of her toys and they play happily together. This is the first time they’ve met and Jess works hard to help and reassure the little girl. Though still full of cold, Jess doesn’t let anything get her down.
12.50: Jess takes ‘EK’ to the nursery around the corner. She then heads to her car and drives another 72 miles to the Shropshire office, the other side of the Midlands, for a therapy session with two brothers ‘DH’ and ‘MH’. En route, Jess stops for a very quick lunch at a motorway’s services, as she’s running against time yet again, she arrives at 14.30.
15.30: The therapy session is to help the boys improve their relationship as they are always fighting with one another. The boys come out playing and laughing, complete with sweets and balloons, which have suddenly appeared out of thin air…. Jess must be a magician! One asks Jess for some chocolate. Jess promises there will be chocolates next week but for now they must call it a day. She says goodbye to everyone and finally drives another 60 miles home. Her final mile count for the day is 223.
