JFS Perspectives

Sometimes things don’t work out the way we plan. Even at a human service agency, where we try to make people’s lives easier, we have to acknowledge that sometimes our idea of what will make their life better doesn’t jive with our clients’ immediate needs. I learned that lesson watching Meeka Houston, a case manager for the TANF (Temporary Aid to Needy Families) clients at SHALOM Denver, a division of JFS. Meeka runs an empowerment group for the TANF clients, who are working their way off welfare. They come to SHALOM Denver to work and learn how to get back on their feet.


Meeka Houston

Meeka’s job is to work with the clients to give them skills so that one day they will find full time employment. Her day is filled with “hiccups” and parents who are learning what it takes to be a parent and to be a meaningful part of the community. Meeka says the hiccups make her more resolved to keep on going.

A few weeks ago, one of Meeka’s clients needed a furnished apartment in order to get her children out of foster care. Meeka rallied everyone she could think of, and within two days she had furniture and a readied apartment. As it turned out, the judge did not think the family was ready for the children and they were told to come back for the next court date in late April.

Watching this was very frustrating for me. I want people to be ready when I am ready. I wanted this mother to have her children back that day. Meeka worked very hard to ready this mother and furnish this apartment. It was very frustrating to watch her hard work unravel.

Meeka helped me understand the importance of patience with the analogy of what flight attendants tell us on a plane. In the case of an emergency, you put your own mask on and then assist the child. If you are not safe and strong, you can’t assist your children. It is hard to remember that people are not always ready when we want them to be ready. We can rally together and furnish a home, but we can’t control what goes on in that home. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t rally together or go out of our way to help, it just means we have to remember that it doesn’t always happen the way we picture it in our mind. One day, hopefully in April, this mother will have her three little children back from foster care. Maybe for Meeka this is a blessing. She now has an extra three months to ready this mother to be a mother. Patience is a hard lesson. Thank you, Meeka for teaching these parents this skill—and for teaching it to me.

-Lindsey Gutterman, JFS Director of Marketing and Communications