Professional Partner of the Month: February 2009
Lisa Bednarchik
"Lisa does what needs to be done - and then some! If a foster parent has a need, Lisa will fill it. If a caseworker has a need, Lisa will direct activities to meet the outcome. If a foster child has a need, Lisa will campaign for appropriate actions to resolve the issue at hand."
- Cindy Miele, Casework Supervisor, Centre County Children & Youth Services
"It has been great to work with Lisa. The connection between Centre County Children and Youth and The Second Mile is very strong, and that benefits the families of Centre County. Lisa and her staff do a tremendous job of making foster parents in the county feel appreciated and needed."
- Jeremy Fegert, Program Director, The Second Mile
"Lisa Bednarchik is a person who makes things happen – a real catalyst. Combine this with her strong need to do a good job, and add that she herself has been a foster and adoptive parent who is very sensitive to what the prospective and current foster parents and children are going through, and you have a powerful mix of skills that makes Lisa a tremendous advocate for the foster system and the people it serves."
- Donna Allar, Casework Supervisor, Centre County Children & Youth Services
Lisa Bednarchik works as a Caseworker in the placement unit for Centre County Children and Youth Services. While her official job title is Foster Home Specialist, with a primary focus on licensing, approving, and training new foster parents, it's apparent that Lisa does so much more to help foster children, families, and co-workers. Because of her years of dedicated service, and her extraordinary skill in making this system work effectively, The Second Mile is proud to recognize Lisa Bednarchik as February's Professional Partner of the Month.
It's difficult to summarize Ms. Bendarchik's job in one sentence. As Foster Home Specialist, she takes care of all aspects of bringing new foster parents into the system, but she also provides support to existing foster parents. On top of these duties, she coordinates the agency's adoption services with the Statewide Adoption Network, as well as the kinship care application process. Bednarchik offers more detail about some of her work:
| | "Often times, a child can remain in their home if respite foster care is able to give the biological family the break they need – say, one weekend per month. If a child is unable to remain in the home and must be placed in foster care, I make the initial calls to locate the foster home that will best meet the child's needs. I also ensure that foster homes meet state guidelines and assist the agency in complying with regulations regarding foster parents." |
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Clearly, Lisa's job is complicated!
And a big part of her work revolves around trying to make everyone else's life less complicated, as they negotiate through approvals, regulations, match-ups, and other administrative challenges. Cindy Miele, Casework Supervisor, elaborates on the value that Lisa Bednarchik brings to the office:
| | "If I want information about the requirements and regulations regarding foster placement and adoptions, I just check with Lisa. Her position as ‘Foster Home Specialist' doesn't begin to describe what all she does to make the lives of foster parents, foster children, caseworkers, and other professionals more organized and understandable." |
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The person who can successfully navigate all these parameters must be detail-oriented, extremely organized, creative, planful, and with the empathy, understanding, and patience to help the people who come to the foster system from many different perspectives. Lisa Bednarchik has all these attributes, and more. Miele breaks it down further:
| | "I joke with Lisa that she has a simple job: she just has to keep 65 foster families, 23 caseworkers, and numerous support staff happy - and she does just that because of her expertise and her willingness to help others. She is meticulous with details, and has a good sense of humor when ‘life' just kind of gets in the way of good planning." |
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Lisa's colleagues add that on top of these skill sets, Lisa also readily acknowledges strengths and accomplishments. She devotes countless hours to helping others, even while at home, showing an incredible commitment and devotion to foster families. Ms. Bednarchik is the champion, the advocate for whom foster children are often in desperate need.
So from where does she derive the most satisfaction? Quite simply, from helping a child find permanence quickly. Since these children and youth are typically coming from uncertain and unstable environments - and sometimes unsafe ones - Lisa appreciates when the child is able to safely return home, or be adopted by a family member or foster parents. Bednarchik also draws satisfaction from locating a foster family that is well-suited to meet the needs of a particular child coming into placement. "Often times, the available foster homes are not the best match for a child coming into care. When the child and family mesh well and everyone's needs are met – I find that especially rewarding."
Despite all the paperwork and other tedious parts of the job, Bednarchik finds motivation to keep going from the success stories: "Knowing that just maybe even one child's life is a little better because I did all I could for them in finding them a good family – that motivates me. She also is motivated by the possibility of "what if" the foster parents see her as a role model: "I also hope, that in showing foster parents that I am willing to go the extra mile for them, that they will go the extra mile for the children in their care when things get tough."
Unfortunately, the challenges in this line of work continue to grow, most notably ongoing budget cuts. These cuts lead to more work needing to be done, in less time, and with fewer resources. On top of the fiscal challenges, the administrative ones are daunting, as Lisa notes: "It is nearly impossible to keep up with the new and ever-changing regulations placed upon the child welfare profession that Lisa and other youth care workers find difficult to keep up with.
The Second Mile serves as one resource for Bednarchik as she faces these struggles:
| | "We can barely afford the one picnic we provide for our foster and adoptive parents. The Second Mile provides foster families with the opportunity for two picnics, along with Hoss's gift certificates to families reaching milestone years, and other fun activities such as: Spikes baseball tickets, Jordan Center event tickets, local puppet shows and plays, HersheyPark Day, Lakemont Park Day, summer camp opportunities for foster children, the Foster Family Christmas Party, and, in the past, Penn's Cave Day, Farm Day, Easter Party, and award plaques. Any time the Second Mile has tickets given to them for events, they generously pass them along to our foster families and group home youth. Jeremy Fegert helped our agency connect with a graphic designer who developed a new foster parent program logo for our recruitment efforts. The Second Mile also provides assistance and support with our annual Blue Ribbon and our Foster Parent Banquet events to celebrate National Foster Care Month in May." |
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As an agency originally founded to serve children in its group foster home, The Second Mile is interested in working with Children & Youth Services agencies around the state to provide free, fun events for foster families, and do any other work it can to promote helping foster children and families.
When asked to offer a favorite quotation, Ms. Bednarchik provided this one: "Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate to the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant with the weak and wrong…because sometime in your life, you would have been all of these." More than just a favorite quotation, these words appear to be ones that Lisa Bednarchik takes to heart, carrying them into her office where she applies them in her efforts to help young and old alike in any way she can. For the positive impact Lisa Bednarchik has had on so many people in Centre County, the Second Mile salutes her as its Professional Partner of the Month.
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