RESUME

NAME: Lynda D. West

ADDRESS: *** *. ********** **. *****, Tx. 77662

EMAIL: ad2ofa@r.postjobfree.com

TELEPHONE: 409-***-****

Education

1977

High School

Groveton High School

Groveton, Tx.

Career Overview

1/9/2009- 1/1/2021

Human Service Tech

Texas Department of Family and Protective Services 2220 Gloria Dr. Orange, Tx. 77630

My duties were varied, the majority being to provide transportation for our clients. Those included children in foster care and their parents. I picked the children up from school or wherever they were and transported them to visit their parents/families. I supervised the visits and documented as required. I transported parents to court hearings, drug testing, counseling services, etc if they needed transportation. I worked the front desk at the office when I was not on the road. I performed regular clerical duties at the front desk along with addressing clients as they came in the door. I assisted other staff with Microsoft use and with things they didn’t understand about computer use. Working directly with the families was my passion. We maintained a count of miles driven for work, and last count I had exceeded 500,000 miles.

09/2004 to 01/2009

Supervisor

CASA

Orange, Tx. 77630

CASA is Court Appointed Special Advocates. I worked out of the Orange County office and served Orange and Hardin Counties. With other staff, I trained volunteers to help advocate for children in the foster care system. My main responsibility was to assign cases to volunteers and to supervise them as the cases moved through the court process. I personally worked as advocate for the cases that did not have volunteers assigned. The advocacy required being knowledgeable about the case details, visiting the child monthly, documenting, visiting the parents, monitoring their progress, attending all meetings and court hearings and making a recommendation to the court regarding each case. The role of Guardian as Litem is very important. The Judge considers the GAL opinion in making his/her rulings in court.

09/1997 - 06/2004

Assistant Director

The Garth House

Garth House is a Children’s Advocacy Center, who’s purpose is to conduct interviews of children who have been sexually abused or severely physically abused. This interview is recorded, making it unnecessary for the child to have to repeat his/her statement multiple times to multiple people, thereby lessening the trauma. I began as Case Manager, performing data entry and assisting the interviewer with preparing for interviews and then operating the camera and recording system during the interviews. I attended and later conducted the quarterly Child Fatality Review Team meetings and prepared reports to submit to the State. We all assisted with the annual fundraiser. I assisted with grant writing. During my time at Garth House, I attended many trainings. The annual Crimes Against Children Conference is the best. I was lucky enough to attend over ten times. I attended the CAC training in San Diego. I was finally going to an important training in Washington DC, when our Executive Director gave her notice. The Board asked if I would act as Interim Executive Director until the position was filled. I accepted. It took a couple of years before the position was filled. At that time, the Board created the position of Assistant Director, which I was honored to accept.

09/1991 - 09/1997

Child Victim Advocate

Jefferson County Victim Assistance

Beaumont, Tx.

This was a brand new program that I helped develop as a Child Victim Advocate in Jefferson County. After working for a year with victims of domestic violence, I began working with children. My main goal was to lessen the trauma of the trial, should the case go that far. I hired a counselor. We provided group therapy, play therapy and individual counseling. I took each child individually to the courthouse to familiarize them with the surroundings and the people. Of course I kept records of each client, maintained statistics for grant reporting, I accessed the criminal court dockets weekly and attended any hearings related to my clients.

I had our first computer system setup and trained the others to use it. I learned Microsoft Office and became very proficient. I designed and had built the first remote system allowing for a child to testify from a remote location if they couldn’t overcome their fear. Much like Zoom, but 30 years ago!

Skills

• Good analytical and planning skills.

• Good Accuracy and attention to details.

• Excellent problem analysis.

• Excellent judgement according to the situation.

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