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80 | RIVERSIDE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SOCIAL SERVICES

Nestor Rivera relies on his experience to help families in crisis.

Customer’s Involvement with Child Welfare Finds Nexus in Work Experience (WEX) Program A s a DPSS CalWORKs customer, Nestor Rivera was hoping to find a new career. “I needed some type of experience under my belt to put on my resumé,” Rivera says. He was assigned to the WEX (Work

self-sufficiency. He also found his calling and career as a Parent Partner for a nonprofit agency that serves children and families in crisis. “I was fully able to understand that situation,” he says. “I wanted to help people out.”

Experience) program at a DPSS office, where Rivera thought he’d volunteer for a month or two and move on. “I liked it so much I ended up coming in on days I wasn’t even scheduled,” he recalls. “Everybody was great! Six months volunteering opened a whole new world.” At the DPSS office, Rivera learned computer, clerical and other functions. But one skill turned out to be more important than the rest. “I learned how to talk to people. Not everybody is the same,” Rivera says. “I have experienced certain things—having your kids taken away from you and then going through a whole case plan, doing everything the court is requiring of you in order to get them back into your life.” Rivera was able to close his family’s CalWORKs case and move toward

I have experienced certain things—having your kids taken away from you and then going through a whole case plan, doing everything the court is requiring of you in order to get them back into your life.