On June 7th, Gov. Bill Richardson walked a day in the shoes of Nevada family services worker Mark Fitzgerald.

Mark writes about the experience below:

“My biggest worry having Governor Richardson join us for breakfast last week was making sure my oldest son was out of bed and dressed in time. 7am is pretty early for a 17 year old.

“After hopping over the baby gate that keeps my 19 month old foster son from wandering around our house, Governor Richardson joined us for an early breakfast before we made our way to my office. While eating, the Governor chatted with my older son Dewey about music and what’s important to him this coming election. Dewey can vote for the first time by next year’s caucuses.

“While the baby tried to impress his guest by hooting and hollering, I told the Governor I had been a foster parent for 17 years, caring for more than ten children during that time. Even Dewey was my foster son before I adopted him at the age of four.

“I told him how I had planned on going to medical school after college. That was until I spent a summer volunteering with kids waiting for foster homes. After that, I dropped all of my classes and changed course. I’ve worked in family services for 23 years now and everyday my team makes the tough call to remove a child from their home, leave them in their home, or reunite them again with their family.

“After dropping the baby at daycare and making a quick stop at my office to meet with one of my caseworkers, the Governor got to see firsthand a home visit to a family where five children were recently reunited with their family following a substantiated abuse investigation.

“I was glad the Governor got a chance to see the detail we go into in making sure these kids are safe when they go back home.

“We talked to the mother and father about making sure they don’t turn to violence when life becomes stressful for them again and reinforced the mother’s responsibility to ensure their safety. We made sure the kids were going to be looked after while their mother was at work, that they had enough food in the house, that the children had clothes and beds to sleep on, and informed them of the health care options for the kids.

“Then we went to Child Haven where children wait for foster care. We saw where many children first go when they enter our care—we saw infants and older children all waiting for homes. The Governor got to take part in snack time and other daily routines we do with the children.

“At the end of the day, I hope the Governor got to see how committed we all are to the enormous responsibility of keeping these kids safe. I hope he also got to see the many demands of being a single parent.

“We can’t expect our next president to make a difference in our lives if they don’t know the challenges we face each day. That’s why we need all of the presidential candidates to walk a day in our shoes.”