After reading Deborah Connolly’s book Homeless Mothers I developed a better understanding of the jobs of social workers. This particular book was from the viewpoint of Connolly who did fieldwork as a social worker. Connolly worked at multiple organizations that housed homeless mothers and often their children. She came across many heart-wrenching stories of homeless mothers, their children, and their families.

To give these homeless mothers answers, suggestions and help is not simple and is not always possible. We can see from Connolly’s point of view that these jobs can take a toll on the social workers. Social workers are working closely with families who are trying to make better lives for themselves. Social workers are expected to have answers for all of these homeless people. In reality it is not always the social workers jobs to give these families a better life, it is up to the families to do that. However, these families are very unstable and they need guidance from the social workers.

I did not realize how hard it would be to have to hear these stories that were often hopeless. Many of the homeless women described in the book had no hope of making a better life for themselves. Sometimes social workers would have no solutions for these people. Even if there were solutions, often times the homeless mothers could not follow through with them because of the circumstances they were in.  It was particularly hard for Connolly when she got close to the character Kristy in the book. Connolly felt that she wanted to take Kristy and her children into her own care because there were not any better options for them. However, she was constantly reminded by her coworkers, “We are not here to save families- we are here to serve them” (Connolly 131). This saying was almost like their motto. Social work is not easy and they have to remember that they are doing what they can to serve these families. There is only so much the social workers can do to get the homeless into shelters; the rest is up to them. Social workers cannot be held accountable for saving these families.