In this episode of In Case You Forget, Jami and Jamie sit down with Cheryl Nitz, a licensed clinical social worker and university department chair, to navigate the unique tension caseworkers face: carrying heavy, profound stories that are not theirs to share. Drawing from her doctoral research on attachment and her decades of clinical and personal experience as an adoptive parent, Cheryl discusses the practice of being 100% present with clients while successfully releasing that burden at the end of the day. The conversation highlights how caseworkers can protect client confidentiality as a sacred trust while still inviting external friends and family to care for their own emotional needs. Cheryl offers profound reminders that while frontline workers cannot control case outcomes, their obedience and presence build lasting, life-changing bridges of hope.
About the Guest
Cheryl Nitz is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with over 30 years of experience specializing in trauma, attachment, foster care, and adoption. She serves as the Chair of the Department of Social Work at Liberty University, where she helps prepare future social workers to lead with compassion and a commitment to justice. Cheryl brings deep personal insight to her work as a foster and adoptive mother of four and a grandparent of six, with doctoral research focused on attachment and emotional intimacy.
- Navigating the emotional cost of walking through trauma and pain with families without becoming calloused or distant.
- The theological peace of realizing you are not responsible for the ultimate outcome of a child’s life, only for your individual faithfulness to the tasks given.
- Depersonalizing difficult behaviors by recognizing that biological families and children often respond out of their own historical trauma.
- Developing specific personal transition rituals—such as prayer, classic rock, or visual boundaries—to mark the clear separation between work life and home life.
- Overcoming the “compulsive caregiver” mindset to communicate personal limitations and accept reciprocity in primary attachments.
- Understanding that friends serve different functions: learning when to lean on friends who bring lightness and laughter versus those who speak direct truth.
- How to invite personal community to support your heart through heavy seasons without breaking client privacy or sharing identifying details.
- Honoring key strategic moments by listening to a client’s venting process fully before jumping in with platitudes, Bible verses, or quick solutions.
Spread the Word
If this conversation encouraged you, consider sharing it with someone who cares about the foster care community and would be encouraged.
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