She’s been puked on. She’s had diapers leak on her. She’s been cussed at. She’s had children try to get physically aggressive with her. 

But despite all of that, Kathy Brummett likes her job as a case aide in Children’s Services Program Support. And that has something to do with the smiles on the kids' faces, like a 1-year-old, who Brummett picked up at 7:15 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 1. 

“I usually don’t do this run, but I live close to where her foster parents live and it’s also close to another run I have to do,” she said. “We’ve been trying to consolidate runs like this more so that we are saving time, money and gas.” 

Because the child is one of the “good” kids, Brummett doesn’t mind toting around the little girl in black-patent leather shoes. Unfortunately, the child’s biological mother doesn’t show up for the visit. 

“It’s the third one she’s missed,” Brummett said as she secures the child into her car seat. “And when that happens, we usually stop scheduling visits until we can figure out a new plan. It’s hard to see the kids have to deal with situations like this though. 

“I do like my job because of the kids,” the mother of two teenage daughters continued. “I really like working with the kids, even the older ones with attitudes! They’re usually bitter and angry about the situation they’re in so I really can’t take it personal.” 

Hamilton County Job and Family Services has 40 case aides who together drive 66,971 miles per month (data is from January to October 2008). That’s an average of 149,643 minutes per month the group of case aides spend in their vehicles. The aides also conduct supervised visits of the children – an average of 692 per month.  

“We also do Protective Child Care runs as well, where we take kids to day care,” Brummett said. “These kids are ones who were determined to be at risk of abuse or neglect – the parents have access to this service to help reduce the risks while they have an active case with Children’s Services.” 

Brummett, who has worked as a case aide for all but a few months of her 20 years with Hamilton County, said it really depends on the day as to how many runs she’ll do. 

“It could be up to four or five, but it depends on how far away they are,” she said. “If I have to drive out to Forest Park to pick up a child, then drive back downtown for the two-hour visit, then drive back to Forest Park and back to the agency, it could be 2 in the afternoon by the time I get back, depending on traffic. So on days like that, we may just do one or two runs.” 

Just as Brummett finishes that sentence, the child starts coughing in the back seat. Brummett looks in her rearview mirror and pulls over just to make sure Skylar’s OK.  

“You’re just never sure if a cough is just a cough or if that cough will lead to other things,” she said. And with that, she picks up a bucket. “That’s why I have a puke bucket in the car. I learned very quickly to have this in my car.”  

After dropping the child off with her foster mom in Anderson Township, Brummett heads off to another foster home in the same area, after making sure she’s documented her mileage and time. 

“We document everything,” she said. “When we pick someone up, when we drop them off, how long the visit is, if the visit was canceled, how far we went, etc.” 

At the second foster home, Brummett picks up Imani, who is about seven months old. 

“She hasn’t visited with mom in a couple of weeks because she hasn’t had electricity,” Brummett said on the way to the mother’s apartment. “We don’t do visits when parents have issues like that. We also stop visits when there are bed bugs or lice in the home – that’s for the kids’ safety, but also our safety.” 

On the way to drop off Imani, Brummett receives a call from the case aide who was picking up Imani’s sisters at a different foster home. The children were not ready when he arrived at the home, so he was running a bit late. 

“He’s conducting the visit so we’ll have to stay for a few minutes until he arrives,” she said. “We get delayed by various things all of the time – traffic, kids not ready when we get there, parents being late, etc. It’s all just part of the day.” 

As Brummett pulls up to the mother’s apartment, she sees the children's grandfather entering the apartment. 

“He’s not supposed to be here when the kids are here,” she said, just as the mother comes out the door. 

“You know he needs to leave, right?” Brummett said to the mother, who nodded and said he just went back in to get a heavier coat. “OK, then we’ll just wait here until he leaves.” 

“I only know he’s not supposed to be here when the kids are here because it was written in the report,” Brummett explains. “It’s important that workers put that information into the child’s folder – it really is a safety issue. Everyone who is in the home goes through a background check and if someone doesn’t go through one, they’re not allowed in the home when the children are here.” 

Once the mother’s father leaves, the mother comes out and gets Imani out of her car seat. She rushes the child out of the cold into her warm apartment. Brummett follows and talks to the mother about the electricity, the apartment, her children, etc.   

Brummett’s co-worker arrives with the mother’s other children and she leaves to head back to the agency. Following a quick lunch, Brummett heads off to prepare for Child Safety Restraint Training, an idea that she came up with.

“There are so many different child seats now that it’s important that Children’s Services workers and case aides all know the proper way to secure a child into a safety seat,” she said. “It’s our responsibility to keep the kids safe.” 

Another part of the job Brummett enjoys is making sure there are plenty of photos for a child’s Life Book. A Life Book is a record of a child’s life that helps identify events in their past, including the time they were in the agency’s care. The Life Book includes a chronological listing of special events and rela­tionships in the child’s life. 

“We now take a lot of the photos during the visits,” Brummett said. “It’s part of their life and we want to make sure they have that with them in the future.” 

And in some cases, Brummett does get attached to the children she transports. 

“There was one family who I transported for six years,” she said. “There were some drug and domestic violence issues in the home and at that point, there was no time limit as to when the kids permanently came into the agency’s custody so the older kids aged out of the system; the youngest is now 17.  

“I hadn’t heard from the kids in awhile, but a co-worker recently saw where their father had died,” Brummett continued. “I still had the Life Book for the youngest and wanted her to have it. So I got the OK from my supervisor and attended the funeral – I talked with the mother first and she was fine with me talking to the daughter. It was nice to be able to see her again and give the Life Book to her. It’s definitely all about the kids for me.”