Social Worker Profile - Kimberly Washington

Kimberly Washington

Kimberly Washington is a seasoned social worker and a Protective Services Worker in the Medically Fragile unit with San Diego County. As a Protective Services Worker, Washington works with families who have had medically fragile children removed from their home. She works to resolve the issues that caused the children to be removed from their home and to, hopefully,  reunite the children with their families.

Washington has been with San Diego County for two and a half years, although she has been a social worker for many years. Before coming to the county, Washington was a case manager for people with HIV/AIDS, a case manager for people with schizophrenia, and worked at a Corrections Work Release center. Washington was motivated to become a social worker because she wanted to help create change in her community.  

“I always wanted to work in a helping field,” Washington said. “I had an interest in public policy as a way to help make big changes, but decided on social work on the micro level instead. At my job, I'm facilitating the little changes that help make our community a better and safer place.” 

Although Washington works everyday to make a difference, recently her job has been more challenging due to county budget cuts. She noted that the cuts have caused increased case loads for social workers. In addition, community-based social service programs have also seen budget cuts, so there are fewer services available to her clients.   

“Services keep disappearing because of budget cuts,” Washington said. “The problem is with what people perceive is needed. Politicians don’t think social services are important so they make cuts.”
 
Washington said she is glad to know in this political climate that she has a union that is fighting to keep the jobs of social workers and the services they provide. 

Despite the challenges, Washington still gets a great deal of satisfaction from her job. She said there is a very supportive culture at her worksite and social workers get recognition from the department and their supervisors for the work they do.

However, she said the most rewarding part of her job is when she can bring a family back together. 

“When family reunification happens, it’s huge,” Washington said. “It doesn’t always happen, but when it does, it feels so good.”