Thinking back to when Mrs. Lola invited me to come on board as the Clinical Coordinator for The Girls’ House, I did not anticipate that Our Fortress Homes would be permanent in my career as a Social Worker and my life. I was so young and had no knowledge of what it took to operate a program. Mrs. Lola told me not to worry, she would teach me and we would learn together. I held her to that promise and she not only taught me how to diplomatically run a program, she taught me how to build a solid program. I believe we have built a program that exceeds both our expectations.

I transitioned from the role of Clinical Coordinator a decade ago to become the Clinical Program Administrator. It was a honor and although I sometimes miss the day to day interactions with the girls, I know they are receiving effective treatment because we built a solid therapeutic program. My hope is that when our girls leave Our Fortress, but not our hearts, they do so with a feeling of importance in this world.

My biggest pleasure working with youth in foster care is hearing girls call Our Fortress “home”. My second biggest pleasure is experiencing girls reunify with their family, transition to a lower level of care i.e. a foster home or graduate to Independent Living. Our girls come from families and I am so grateful that their families trust us to care for their daughters, granddaughters, sisters, nieces and cousins. I speak for all of our staff when I say we learn so much from our residents and are proud of every achievement and milestone that they make.

~ Davida Robinson, LCSW-C, CCTP