Mother-Daughter Duo Work Side-by-Side at The Foundling
Above: Monique (left) and Estelle (right).
Estelle and her daughter Monique both work at The New York Foundling’s Long Island City office in Queens.
You could say the two work pretty closely.
“She sits like, 5 feet from me,” says Monique with a laugh.
Estelle is the director of programs for The Foundling’s Adoption and Legal department, and has been with the organization for 6 years. Monique, her daughter, has been with The Foundling for 2 this October, and is an intake assistant for the foster care department.
Before coming to The Foundling, Estelle worked with the Administration for Children’s Services. Then she made the jump to The Foundling to implement a new evidence-based model for The Foundling.
Monique was in school, studying for her bachelor’s degree in psychology, and realized how much her mom enjoyed her work at The Foundling. She told her, “Your job is so fun because it seems like the things that you are doing (is) helping families.” So once a position opened up at the nonprofit, she decided to apply.
Sitting so near one another daily, they have observations about each other’s work ethic. Monique admires how her mom works to lead her staff, and Estelle values Monique’s dedication to the foster parents she serves.
Best of all, the two women love that they work in a family environment — literally and figuratively.
“What I like best about The Foundling is the family connectedness that we have as a team — and this is through the entire agency,” Estelle says. “We all work for the center and the children that we serve. It allows us to have a family component within ourselves.”
As Monique puts it, “It’s just like one big happy family.”
