Working at Family Services

collegues and working enivornment

unsystematic management

insurance and medicals

Working as a team, helping others.

Stressful environment, low pay.

401K company match

I think it's hard to keep working that type of job without distancing yourself & growing a thick skin. I work a job that puts me in contact with other people's suffering, and I have had to make myself care less in order to be able to do my job effectively. Obviously even so there is a spectrum (of caring/not), I do want to help people when possible, and I do sometimes feel that some of my coworkers have less sympathy than they ought for the population we work with.

Well you get different results from different people. Some people are doing the job as a stepping stone or just to earn a living (and let me tell you it isn't a great living hah). Many people get involved with the people helping profession because they want to do good. Anyone will tell you there isn't too much money in it which is sad. Especially at the caseworker level you are earning a salary slightly above the poverty line. With that said I am sure if a caseworker who wasn't that passionate about their work to begin with would be disgruntled not only by their low income, but after dealing with the cases and families they have on a daily basis. It definitely takes a certain strength to deal with children and families who are not functioning properly and trying to fix them anyway you can. While many times you deal with wonderful people, there are also some clients who are ruthless and treat you like ***. Basically, it depends on the worker, their passions, the clients, and the case.

Well I'll admit the most upsetting part of working for DCFS was that fact that each child (not sure if child is the appropriate word) was only involved with us for 3 months or so, depending on whether or not they reached their required goals put in place by the court. More times than not it would be 3 to 6 months. You can only do so much in that short amount of time. Also, many times you would begin to see some improvements and then because of these improvements (and lack of funding) they would term the client only to have them return back to their ways. This is one of the reasons I chose to pursue another career.

I never dealt with the removal of anyone's child. That was not my job and I don't believe I was qualified to do such a thing...and I am grateful for that. I did fear for my life on a variety of times though. One time I was asked to visit someone on a extremely dangerous and gang related street. I was told there would be drive by shootings in the area as a initiation for some of the gangs in the area. I tried to go as early as I could to avoid any of this and was lucky enough to do so. Later that evening someone was shot on that same block as a result....that is just one of the stories.

There was one kid, a teenager, who was ruthless. He lived with a second-degree relative and was unhappy. He did not want to be involved with our program and really let us know. He told me to go *** myself everytime I saw him and would actually throw things at me when I tried to pick him up to go to school. His issues were school related and he felt it was a waste of time. Part of my job would be to drive to the home to pick them up and deliver them to school...Most would comply, he would not. After being called every name under the sun and having shoes thrown at me I decided to leave and let him deal with the consequences. Unfortunately, you cannot change everyone, especially when they are unwilling to accept it. He had deeper issues I was unequipped at the time to address. Keep in mind this was years ago and I too was young.