behavior technician

board certified behavior analyst

paraprofessional

special education teacher

teacher

First Children Services

I have been with the organization for over 5 years. I have had nothing but an amazing experience as a mental health clinician. I highly recommend First Children Services to anyone looking to work in behavioral health field. The company’s dedication to both staff and clients creates a fulfilling and rewarding experience. As with any organization in this field things are always evolving. They have done a great job evolving to meet those needs as well as supporting their staff. Love being part of such an amazing interdisciplinary team. 

Management: Continue to maintain a supportive and transparent work environment, as it has made a big difference in employee morale and job satisfaction. Keep up the great work with providing professional development opportunities!

I have been with First Children for 2 years now. I have been given nothing but support and a true feeling of belonging with First Children. My work is valued and appreciated by my fellow team members, management, and other departments I interact with. 

As with all companies, there is consistent change in various areas of the company to find efficiencies, better process flows, increased success of care for our clients, and ways to grow the services the company provides. Some work, some do not. Management is always evaluating for ways to improve. The company values individuals who strive to make improvements and growth in their jobs. The company offers opportunities for training, certifications, and has a relationship with higher education to help you get a degree if needed to move your career ahead and gain more earning potential. First Children wants more than just a clock in/clock out mindset. They want you to love what you do and look to keep growing in your skills and career. 

The most enjoyable part of working with First Children is seeing the successes with the children we support. That is why I chose First Children. The people I work with are why I continue to stay.

Most of the coworkers are nice and supportive. But, you will never get ahead unless you are buddies with someone in management. They will promote their friends into secret jobs that never were open to other candidates, or just bypass highly qualified staff in favor of a less qualified friend who will tell them their rear end smells like roses. If you dare point out a real problem, you’d better want to solve it with no support. Management will show up briefly, pay lip service and some lunch, and be gone for months. Don’t ask them a tough question. They don’t know, because they’ve barely been in the field before being promoted. 
The facilities are dirty, and lacking in basic supplies. They wonder why everyone is sick. If you ordered hygiene supplies so they arrive before they had been run out for several days, maybe staff wouldn’t get sick so much. 
The retention bonus is an absolute lie. Nobody I know has seen one ever. And they’ll do your annual review late to hope you leave before they pay your measly bonus and raise. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
Seems to be a power struggle in the executive ranks that is causing many uneasy feelings throughout the organization. The company wants to grow but there are too many inconsistent policies/ procedures to make that happen. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The inconsistent policies/ procedures- if you don't like what the one manager says, ask another until you get the answer you want. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The idea of helping children live a better life is fantastic and when we see that happen, it is such a heart warming experience. Getting through everything else to get to that point proves to be challenging. This challenge seems to be why so many of the new employees aren't sticking around. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
It was very stressful when you had to try to balance the conflicting priorities of the many supervisors.

I worked at FCS for multiple years. The clients are amazing but the environment ruins it. Concerns/issues are never handled and it is a miserable work environment. Dual relationships lead to favoritism and unprofessional decisions. Admin was made aware of these issues by multiple staff and nothing was ever done. Instead they allow staff to do whatever they want and treat the clients negatively. “Rules” are never in-forced. Rules only matter when it’s convenient for the directors or they’ll tell multiple staff different things and claim they never said that. Then higher ups complain that staff don’t listen.  You always get told they’ll take care of it or look into the problem but they never do. It got to the point where I stopped bringing concerns up because it was a waste of my time.  If you like being stressed, anxious, unsupported and over worked then this is the place for you.

* Terrible management and administration team.
*Very LOW paying salary unless you're liked by the administration team.
*There's no care about your safety with behavioral students
*Nurses are not qualified and have no care if a student is ill. 
*Cares more about the money they make off the students who attend.
*Non-qualified employees in the position they are in including administration team. 
*Staff cares more about what's going on in your personal life besides the students. 
*Non-working utilities within the building. 
*Very poor with how they handled the numerous amounts of COVID cases within the school.

If I could give this place 0 stars I would. There were good days and bad days. Don't waste your time, I promise it's not worth the mental and physical exhaustion you're about to encounter. 


Things started off amazingly well. Onboarding was informative and promising.  In the spring a lot of things began to change. By June they were cutting BCBA rates. Yes, CUTTING.  Previously negotiated  contracts became null and void with about 30 days notice. They wanted people to do the same job for less money.  Trust was broken. They pay the lowest BCBA rate in NJ and greater Philadelphia. They take about a 50% cut off BCBA school district rates. Leadership changes things constantly and then changes them back when they realize it was not a good idea in the first place. If you don’t meet your billable hours they take your PTO. They need some new leadership with experience or they are not going to survive.

The company frequently experiences significant turnover in upper management. They hire staff who are ill-equipped to manage maladaptive behaviors and expect experienced employees to constantly intervene. The focus is more on increasing the number of children served rather than on the quality of staff hired or the effectiveness of treatment planning. There is a great deal of favoritism, and once you're no longer in the spotlight, you quickly become a target. Complaints are ignored, and HR seems to prioritize the company's interests, constantly changing rules to suit their needs. The kids are the best part, and many staff members are great too, but the environment can become cliquey. If you don't fit in, it's best not to bother


I worked here for over 3 years. You get hired and thrown into the lions den. No training on protocol, no training on the system etc. management constantly changes, they speak down to you, and most people are on cell phones instead of with kids. Pay is horrible. They don’t pay for holidays unless your full time. You can’t get healthcare part time bc they don’t have the hours to support it. And they don’t pay you for anything extra. Ie. having to use your phone for notes, gas( unless between home clients) , conversations/ meeting with supervisor’s, etc.

Should have never left my old job where we got lunch 2x a month, quarterly bonus opportunities, 4 paid holidays PT, 8 FT and better pay. 

If you like to work for a bunch of blind mice who change structure, job titles, roles, responsibilities, and expectations on a monthly basis, this is a great place for you. If you want a leadership team who actually listens to staff, encourages growth from a technical standpoint and not just a financial one, look elsewhere. If you know upper management or are friends with them, you’ll get a great job and have success, regardless of if your clients have any success, because trust me, they couldn’t lead a horse to water if they tried. It’s rather unfortunate since there were so many good and trustworthy employees that upper management either fired or pushed out the door. They really ruined a good thing.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Behavior technician 150 salaries reported	$24.35 per hour
Board certified behavior analyst 68 salaries reported	$78,840 per year
Paraprofessional 20 salaries reported	$21.68 per hour
Special education teacher 41 salaries reported	$69,732 per year
Teacher 33 salaries reported	$64,705 per year

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