Lena Sarracino never knew her mom or dad. She was adopted as an infant. She was told she had contact with her mom as a small child, but she has no memory of those visits.
Today, Sarracino is a protective services caseworker for the Department of Children and Youth Services in rural Acoma, New Mexico. A member of AFSCME Local 1894, she is responsible for caring for kids whose lives, like her own as a child, have been upended.
Temporarily removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect, the children that Sarracino serves are afraid and often angry.
As the person who makes sure they get to school or to a doctor’s appointment and who works with their parents to get on the right track, Sarracino says she’s “grateful to be in the position I’m in.”
Sarracino started her career with New Mexico’s Human Services Department, delivering Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits.
But a career change led her to the Children, Youth and Families Department. After a few years handling paperwork and transporting kids, she’s now in a role where she shines.
Her talents were immediately clear to her co-workers.
“She’s an amazing worker,” says Dennis Shoemaker, a social worker who nominated Sarracino for AFSCME’s Never Quit Service Award. “She puts her heart into her work. She’s been bitten and hit by children and never gives up. She can connect with children who have severe trauma. She never stops working for the best outcome for the child. I call her ‘the oracle.’”
Despite many misconceptions in the media, our union’s latest Never Quit winner says that her job isn’t to tear families apart, but to support parents and to reunite kids with them.
“We try and fix what’s broken,” Sarracino says. “We help them become better parents, better supporters for their kids.”
And her own past gives her a unique perspective into the lives of the families with whom she works.
“I understand from the point of view of kids being scared and angry, upset and afraid,” she says. “Of just wanting to be a family.”
Every story is different, Sarracino says, and she works with families from all walks of life.
“Anyone could come to that point — it’s not just drug addicts or alcoholics,” she says. “It could be anything. There’s no manual on how to raise a kid.”
But no matter what has led kids into her care, she treats them the same: with love and respect.
“I let them know I understand where they’re coming from,” she says. “It really does take a village to raise a kid. And I'm going to do everything I can to care for these kids and give them all the help I can while they’re in my care.”
Know a co-worker who goes the extra mile? Nominate them for AFSCME’s Never Quit Service Award.