attorney

eligibility specialist

licensed clinical social worker

analyst

quality assurance coordinator

Arkansas Department of Human Services

A typical day as a Social Services Assistant was rarely typical. Every day brought something different—supervising family visits, transporting children, drug screening parents, documenting contacts, preparing for court, and supporting foster families during some of the most difficult times in their lives. The work taught me resilience, patience, empathy, and the importance of treating every family with dignity while always keeping the safety and well-being of children first.

The most rewarding part of the job was building relationships with the children and watching families make positive progress. Those moments reminded me why this work matters.

The most difficult part was not the workload itself, but feeling unsupported while carrying the emotional weight of the job. Child welfare professionals routinely witness trauma, abuse, neglect, addiction, and heartbreaking family situations. Employees need supervisors who are available when guidance is needed, who provide timely communication, and who serve as mentors rather than simply managers. Good supervision should include recognizing strengths, providing balanced and constructive feedback, applying expectations consistently across employees, and creating an environment where staff feel comfortable asking questions and learning from mistakes.

I genuinely loved the mission of DCFS and would have gladly continued serving children and families long-term. My hope is that leadership continues investing not only in the children they serve, but also in the employees who dedicate themselves to this challenging and meaningful work.

A typical day at work...well there is no typical day at work when you work for this agency. You might start a day at 8am and not get home until 8pm depending upon how many children you have to pick up and place. Oh and finding placement in foster homes/shelters is very difficult since Arkansas has no where for these kiddos to go. The system is broke financially and from within. Little Rock runs the show and really does not care about those workers in smaller towns. If someone leaves the job no one gets into a hurry to hire someone else. Why would they when they could just overwork the ones still there for the same amount of money? Something has to give in this system and  I don't think that it is all about money. I think some of those people in Little Rock need a dose of what goes on  and then they could relate. I thought that I was going to be able to help people at this job but there is not enough time and resources available to work the kind of miracles they want you to work. The hardest part of the job is the stress. There is always something over your head and if you care at all then you will never succeed. I was told that 'I cared too much". I did not think that was possible. Also, the politics that play out in this agency is ridiculous. I thought we were supposed to put family's back together. But instead it was who could outwit who in court. The most enjoyable part of the job was when you were fully staffed and you could have an 8 hr day. Sometimes you actually could help someone and that felt good. But that was not the case most of the time. In a nutshell this job is very stressful, low-paying (for all the responsibilities), long hours and lots and lots and lots of travel. I put 40, 000 miles on my vehicle in a year. If you have children do not expect to see them hardly ever. Don't even get me started on the on-call. That's right...you have to go on-call as well. It differs in different counties. In my county which was fairly small. A worker would go on call from Friday at 4pm until the following Friday at 8am. It was a very long week. You would be by yourself and cover 3 counties. You would only get paid if you had to go on call. Unless something drastically change this job will never be worth it for anyone.

Working for this organization has left a bittersweet taste for me on being a government employee. If you are an employee with internal drive, a desire to grow within the organization, and are willing to do the work then there are opportunities for advancement. These opportunities however are dependent on individuals retiring from the jobs you are working so hard to reach. Or your ability to relocate to another part of the state as the agency has not yet adopted modern ideas of tele-work.  If you are willing to work hard, they will always give you more work to do. I discovered that they also take no action against individuals who just do the bare minimum. Instead of holding sub satisfactory employees accountable for their productivity, their responsibilities are handed off to another worker who will work extra hard to make up the slack. Also, the (new as of 2018) performance rating system leaves lots of room for improvement and actually awarding high performers. The system in place would work great in small organizations, but when trying to be exceptional in an division with nearly 2000 employees, you have to nearly reinvent the wheel. Sadly, any chance of salary increase is also tied to this performance rating system. There is no cost of living adjustment or other opportunities for base salary increase. The way the department has implemented this rating system and its use of a "bell curve" rating guide means that weak performers get nearly the same pay increase as exceptional performers. I love my job. I love (nearly) all the people I work with. If you are looking for a cozy no-frills position, come work here. If you are looking for a place to work extra hard an receive little to no recognition (and pay), come work here.If you are looking fora place work hard, get paid for working hard, and be recognized for working hard, work somewhere else.

A typical day at work- is conducting 8-10 interviews with client's that have applied for SNAPS, TEA or Medicaid, I determine their household eligibility and either approve, deny or pend their application for more information such as residency verification, income verification earned and unearned, expenses, and resources i.e bank accounts or other assets- I work under little to no supervision, I'm very busy from 8:15 - 3:30, Monday- Friday 8-4:30

What I have learned- I have learned to manage my time better, how to organize my work and work space more efficiently, and how to communicate more effectively with a diverse groups and or individuals.

Management- I've learned from previous work experiences that management is required to oversee the over all objective are meet by a specified time (to never take it personal), and that the most effective management style provides assistance when direct is needed but are never overbearing- effective management is getting others to put their best foot forward.

The hardest part of the job is that its never ending; its not enough time in the day- also there's little no no mobility- your at a desk eight hours a day.

The most enjoyable part of the job is interviewing the client's, engaging with so many people and personality types each day; even more enjoyable is when I have an opportunity to help families and children that are most in need.

I was responsible for working with rural communities in planning for their health care needs. We developed plans from how to increase flu vaccines to how to handle a true health care crisis in rural communities. Learned a lot about health care and the importance of being able to go into people's communities and be non-evasive and to encourage collaborative cooperation in a community.

I would research a community's health care issues and prepare summaries for the community leaders to review.  The we would actually start with the development of a mission statement and developing goals and objectives for the community.  Several of these communities went on to develop local non-profit health care boards which were successfully in securing federal funding for Community Health Center funding for their community,.  This allows for health care to provided to rural citizens in Arkansas.

Co-workers and community leaders is what made this job easy and enjoyable.  It was a positive working environment when working with the community.  

The hardest part of the job was realizing that with the lose of Dr. Boozeman the Agency went into a less supportive mission to communities.  This made the job more political and less enjoyable.

Investigates suspected child abuse and neglect complaints by making on-site visits, securing background information, and interviewing parties involved. Discusses investigative findings and observations with Supervisor and recommends the opening of protective services, foster care, or supportive services cases. Intervenes in crisis situations, removes the child from the home if the situation is life threatening, and arranges for temporary placement in foster homes, group homes, or treatment facilities. Develops a case plan to establish goals, objectives, tasks and time frames for all parties involved in case. Provides counseling and guidance to clients in defining their needs, interests, and courses of action and refers clients to other professionals, agencies, services, or community resources appropriate to clients' problems. Recruits and trains families, conducts home studies and family assessments to determine appropriate child placements, and visits clients and/or foster parents on a regular basis to monitor progress toward case objectives. Documents all case work activities and developments and prepares court reports for custody hearings and presents testimony when necessary, performs other duties as assigned.
Professional Experience

What is the best part of working at the company?
It was  a great place to develop skills in case management and to truly learn about resources to help families and to gain knowledge working with the public in need of assistance and professionals who provide services to others in need

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Extremely large caseloads and the adverse cooperation from clients and the extreme circumstances related to cases being handled.  

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Can be a supportive and family like environment.  Due to the nature of the job there is a lot of reliance on each other to get the jobs done.  There can be some extreme emotions at times due to emotional aspect of the cases.  

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Office hours,  but it could be investigating someone’s worst day ever and removing children from their parents due to violence or other extreme circumstances or it could be a day in court where you are rejoicing in court with a family who has worked hard to reunite with and their children and their family is reunited.  There are always meetings and scheduling and visits and appointments to manage on a daily basis .

Okay this Place is B-O-R-I-N-G  the work load is impossible to complete. Average 40 cases per week Never ever ever Stops being depressing. Every worker at the Office lives in Fearof being Fired . You area At will Employee for the State and you will not make enough money to support your family No matter what Job you get. I have never seen anything like it. Everyone hates coming to work, then you see people that are so badly in need of help that thanks to the reduction in SNAP not much you can do to help. You will cry every evening when you get Home. Take my advise, your better off even if you have to hold a sign and beg for food. Oh and the Great Benefits these other idiots are talking about will cost you $250.00 a month off your check and u still will pay $35 for a dr. Visit. Your take home will be $600.00 for two weeks. I had to leave before I hung. Myself. It is Hell if you apply dont say I didnt warn you. I dont care what job it is at DHS money is horrible, management iz Horrible and dont think you will help needy. You will be mandated to refer any and I mean any suspisions for a Investigation. Even if u know these poor souls need the money. Sad part most CW get excited denying benifets. Like i said its Hell And working there makes demons out of people.

I have never been in setting so unprofessional, to the point they even have a code to call when the staff is in a physical altercation. They have a tremendous turn over rate with staff, and this is for several reasons. 1. The staff is very unprofessional and rude to new employees. 2. They have no break, you work a straight 8 hours and with a job as stressful as this can be... taking a moment for self and getting a break from the monotony is necessary. 3. In orientation they tell you how you get help here and here, and frankly you just do not!! The lack of support from your co-workers is ridiculous. There is NO team work. 4. They basically hire young kids 18 19 years old who have never had to hold down a job much less behave as if this is a job and not the high school hall ways. I love working with people whom have development disabilities, but your co-workers make this job miserable!! Management has alot to work on if they are ever going to fix the issues they have with retaining the employees and ensuring the quality and safety of their residents.

A typical day at work involved checking in with clients and with other staff involved with clients, and documenting interactions and interventions.  Most of my work was independent of others and the volume of work was high.  There was very little consistent, reliable support, even from those with jobs that included providing support.  
On a typical day I heard "that's not my job" way too many times when listening to interactions between co-workers.  

I learned how government offices can make problems when problems don't exist and how they can turn small problems into catastrophes.  I also learned how avoid these problems in order to do my work in such a way that nobody suffered and my clients benefited.  

Management was best described as iron fisted in a haphazard sort of way.  

I had several dynamite co-workers, but many who were miraculously terrible.  

The hardest part of the job was trying to help families with minimal resources at my disposal.  

The most enjoyable part of the job was interacting with the public.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Attorney 13 salaries reported	$76,638 per year
Eligibility specialist 1 salary reported	$46,912 per year
Licensed clinical social worker 4 salaries reported	$52,504 per year
Analyst 3 salaries reported	$38,218 per year
Quality assurance coordinator 2 salaries reported	$55,138 per year

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