Aminata Tall
HUS 1203
Human Services Seminar

Professional Essay Assignment

I was born in Senegal; which is a country in Africa. I lived there for the first 17 years of my life. I went to elementary, middle and high school over there and moved to the United after I graduated from High school. The reason why I came here is because my father, sister and also other important members of my family live here, but also I wanted to go to college in an English speaking country and have a better chance to pursuit my professional goal.
The reasons why I decide to become a HUS worker besides wanting to help others is because I always wanted as a child to work for the United Nation. It has always been my dream to go to other countries, to learn and experience different cultures. I also enjoy working with people in their environment and give back to my community. I know that choosing this profession give me numerous options and pathways to choose from, and also the opportunity to work with numerous and divers population.

My personal and professional strengths that I know that will enhance my effectiveness are that I have a passion to work in the helping profession. I enjoy helping others and working with communities. I am a people person, and grow up in an African family where our parents taught us to accepted people as they are, to help those in needs because we were fortunate enough to be in a better situation. In my culture having social skills is very important, we were taught how to deal with people, how to leave in a big family where everybody is welcome and treated the best way possible. Those experiences shaped my personality and makes me who I am today, and also the possibility to deal with people from different cultures.

I would like to work with children, especially those in Foster care; because I would like to learn more about myself, my strengths and limitations as a professional, but also as a future mother. My goals as a human Services professional is to bring my contribution in making a better world for future generation, and the best way to start is with children and give them opportunities to grow up in the best environment possible so they can have better chances to contribute to society later on when they become adults. Children in Foster are part of a vulnerable population because many of them were victim of violence, neglect, and other type of physical and psychological abuse. Many of them came from dysfunctional families where they experienced traumatic experiences from parents or other members of their families. Some of those families deal with problems such as domestic violence, drug abuse, or other types of problems that make them unsuitable for a child development, or a good upbringing. Even though these children have many difficulties regarding life’ conditions, being in foster care give them a new chance in life; a chance to be in a safer environment, to have a better education and other opportunities such as being placed in foster homes, or being adopted by families who will give them the love, care, protection and family support that they need in order to have a chance to become successful adults.
In order to work with these children as a Human Services Professional; it is important to have a certain knowledge and understanding of children’s development; meaning physically and psychologically. It is also important to know how to help those children to deal with traumatic experiences that they may have experienced in the past; how to overcome fear and rebuilt trust, how to identify and chose the best options regarding families and environments. My goal as a social worker is to give children in need a new start in life; a better quality of life; the chance to go to school, have a social life and resources that they can rely on when needed.
I envision my career path from the time of graduation to ten years following as to have become a successful Humanitarian, or Human services worker. I would expect that I have changed many lives and bring a contribution to making a better world for those in need; especially children. Ten years from now, I hope that I have accomplish most of my professional goals and gain more  experiences and abilities in order to move forward and better serve  the community.
In conclusion, this essay has helped me to reflect about my future, and think about the reasons why I chose this field. It has given me the opportunity to think about what I need in order to become a good and professional Human Services worker; my strengths; and also to do a self-reflection and identify certain traits in my personality that will help me to achieve my goals.