Wendy Tracy- Meant to Be.

  • March 6th, 2023
  • By Pathway Caring for Children

March is Social Work Month! Pathway social workers meet daily challenges with flexibility, tenacity, and creativity to provide the best possible care. Each and every one tirelessly give their time and dedication! They are the heart of our mission to help children and families realize the possibilities of their lives!

Wendy Tracy, LISW-S is Pathway Caring for Children’s Executive Director and leads Pathway with vision, discernment, and integrity every day! Wendy shares her journey:

I have been with Pathway Caring for Children for 29 years.

I began my journey with Pathway as an intern. I was an Individual and Family Studies student at Kent State University and at that time I was unsure of what direction I wanted to go in. I just knew that my focus was children and families.  

I went to the phone book to find an internship. I saw Pathway’s name first and gave them a call. I met with their volunteer coordinator. She told me that Pathway was starting a new program called therapeutic foster care, which meant working with foster children who were more troubled and required more services. This certainly scared me as I had never worked with this population, but I said yes when offered the internship.

I still remember the first two girls that I worked with. They had been in multiple foster homes with other agencies before coming to Pathway and both were on many different kinds of medication for their behaviors. They had no real consistent support from their birth family. I had no idea that a child at the age of 9 could have experienced so many foster homes and have such little stable support. After working with these children for a year and seeing the impact my relationship was having on them I knew I was going to stay at Pathway. This is where I was meant to be.  Calling Pathway for my internship was the first call that I made – and my last.

I have stayed at Pathway not only because of the children that we work with, but because of the families that are so dedicated to caring for them – whether it be foster, adoptive, or birth families.