Joanne Moore
“I like to come to work every day,” said Joanne Moore, social work supervisor at Randolph Children's Home. “I work with incredible people who are dedicated.”
Joanne supervises social workers, family workers, trauma treatment workers and permanency workers.
“I hold the bar up high, so that they strive to do their best, and I only hope they recognize their own contributions,” she said. “When they realize that people appreciate that they go above and beyond to do their best, it keeps the enthusiasm going and it’s important for the kids.”
She received her bachelor’s degree in social work from Pennsylvania State University in 1971, and started working three weeks later as a caseworker with the Philadelphia County Board of Assistance.
Joanne obtained a master’s degree in social work from Robert Wesleyan College in 1997. A successful MSW internship led Joanne to a career in helping children.
“I never expected to work with kids, but I had an internship that dealt with adolescent boys who abused substances and had a variety of traumatic experiences,” said Joanne. “The feeling of helping them was so rewarding.”
Joanne has worked at New Directions Youth & Family Services for 11 years. She was originally hired as a social worker in Global Village Therapeutic Foster Care. After four years, she became a social work supervisor in the residential treatment program.
Even though she is now a supervisor, Joanne hasn’t forgotten her main focus, the child, which is why she got certified to supervise youth on the climbing wall, an activity in the Adventure Recreation Program at Randolph Children’s Home.
“When I noticed that some of the children didn’t want to climb the wall I decided to do it to show them that if I can do it, so can they,” said Joanne.
“I climbed the tower a couple of times and it’s scary; I like the ground a lot better. This activity can easily be used in counseling with a therapeutic spin on the wall climbing experience.”
Wall climbing isn’t the only adventurous thing Joanne has under her belt.
In 1983, Joanne and her then nine-year-old son and five-year-old daughter moved to Saudi Arabia with her former husband, who was taking on an engineering job there.
“It was an educational and cultural experience, but I didn’t enjoy the day to day very much,” said Joanne. “Women are not allowed to drive and there are many other restrictions that are hard for an independent woman to handle.” They left Saudi Arabia in 1985.
Before moving to Saudi Arabia, they had lived on a dairy farm. When she first got settled on the dairy farm, she purchased a two-year-old horse and a milk cow.
“I had a horse I couldn’t ride and a cow I couldn’t milk,” Joanne said, “but it was really fun. I enjoyed the animals. I learned to ride and the cow survived.”
They eventually had 40 sheep, 40 cows, 40 rabbits and three horses.
“We weren’t that successful, but then again no one was that successful in dairy farming around those times,” said Joanne.
“I loved it. I got a chance to connect with nature and have a deeper sense of life. Things are just so concrete, either you have enough hay or you don’t.”
Though she no longer lives on a dairy farm, Joanne didn’t move far away from that element. She now lives in Randolph surrounded by 42 acres of land, most of it being forest, with her 16-year-old foster daughter, 4 horses, 3 cats and a German Shepherd.
“I keep myself pretty busy remodeling the house, selling timber, building fences and spending time with the kids,” said Joanne.
Though Joanne isn’t planning on retiring any time soon, she hopes to work with the Red Cross or do disaster relief projects after she retires. She also wants to have her dog trained to be a therapy dog.
“I’ll have to do something after I’m retired,” said Joanne. “I most certainly can’t keep remodeling my house, because I won’t be able to afford it,” she said jokingly. “I don’t like things to stop and when they do I have to do something else.”
While Joanne may be a woman of few words, she’s definitely a woman on the move.
“I’ve done a lot of things,” said Joanne. “I need things to be happening all the time.”
April 1, 2009
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