youth counselor

youth worker

shift leader

case worker

family support worker

Four-Oaks-Family-and-Childrens-Services

The flexibility of this job was helpful. One supervisor was amazing and talented at what she did, the other one was unhelpful and micromanaged everything. You typically have to travel in the evenings to meet with families, which can put a toll on your work-life balance. There is not great communication between the main office in Cedar Rapids and the other aspects of the company that are located there, such as HR. It was hard to get a simple question answered and if you needed help with something, they were always defensive. There is strong job security but you are unable to move up in a caseworker position unless there is an opening for a supervisor job. This can be a rewarding job but is also tough at times. Read the fine print of the policies especially when it comes to resigning and not getting fully paid out with your remaining PTO and don't be expecting performance raises every year, you'll get a flat 2%!

What is the best part of working at the company?
I enjoyed working with the youths and their families,

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Upper management unwilling to include the workers in changes made and it was a top down formula with decisions made to not include the employees who are hands on with the children and their families on a regular basis.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
There is always room for improvement and growth and to not be afraid in working together with other likeminded groups in the community working towards achieving success in our youth.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Most of time is spent motivating and working to create change and a sense of stability within each child that came through the doors and letting them know that they can be whatever they put their mind to and be the best version of themselves.

Management at the Ankeny office is supportive and the culture is casual and welcoming. Schedule is extremely flexible and you essentially choose your hours, though evening appointments are pretty much impossible to avoid. Workload fluctuates, sometimes very little and sometimes you'll be busy. As long as you meet your deadlines the only in-office requirement is 4 hours a week. Working with foster families is a mixed bag, but can be very rewarding. Guidance from upper management can be inconsistent and in my experience more focus is put on meeting the company's numbers than making sure families feel supported. Don't expect much of anything for pay raises or opportunities to advance, but it's a good job at the end of the day.

You clock in at your required time and do your jobs with or without someone with you. Most nights go by without a breeze and a handful of times throughout the year they don't. If you want to switch to morning shift then good luck cause now that you are in night shift they will keep you there and give excuses. The pay is not great compare to what other places offer. Night shift gets blamed the most while morning shift gets a slap on the wrist even when late. They mandate trainings during your time while going to bed all the while tell us not to fall asleep on the job. 

If you come to this place it means you want to help the clients, being lazy, or you are wanting to study for a better position than this.

What is the best part of working at the company?
I experienced too many negatives truthfully give a best anything

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The amount of hours required to attempt to meet unrealistic expectations, and the negative atmosphere created by most staff members.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Lots of negativity, swearing and talking bad about clients,and other workers. Supervisors will say things like" if you are kind hearted this job isn't for you." 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Back to back appointments, paperwork till 2 in the morning trying to keep updated.

Because of the nature of the job, it's difficult to say it's fully the company that doesn't make this a great place to work. But, I do think staff (mainly management) could do a better job at making it better than it is. People get stressed out too easily here, and when that is happening, it makes it difficult to work conductively instead of feeling like you're just in survival mode all the time. I wish there were better policies about making sure people get time off, leave work when you are scheduled to leave, and have more opportunities for communication with higher ups to be able to process more about needs for each program. 

For the amount of abuse you take you are VERY under paid. Helping kids is one thing but being abused by them is another, risk versus reward just isn’t there. Their are no guaranteed breaks and honestly dosent feel like they care for their employees as much as they should. Seem like a prime example of someone get rich while we all struggle and stress deal with kids that bite, spit, scratch, and verbally abuse you. Staff aren’t all that helpful nor friendly, work environment isn’t the best at all just VERY STRESSFUL 

If you aren't a favorite, you will be set up and let go. No regards for families in need of support when management decides to schedule a last minute meeting or staff takes a day off. 
HR dept never answer their phone. HR dept is rude and constantly making mistakes. 
Horrible place to work! 
Contracted work by DHS. Hopefully the next contract will be awarded to another agency. Families & children deserve a change for the better. 
Four Oaks has a high turnover. Staff get burnt out easily with high expectations, long hours and no appreciation. Very unorganized most of the time. 
If you need a job to just "get by", this may be for you. If you are looking for a career, keep looking. 

They teach trauma informed care and explain going hands on us a last resort for safety and never to be used for compliance. Once you’re working the floor, you learn quickly that they just want people who can restrain and seclude kids. If you challenge or question this, you will be targeted by petty management and written up for trivial things. It was great working with kids in need, but it wasn’t so great feeling like you’re traumatizing them more. They also alter incident reports to look compliant and justify going hands on with kids, but it’s all fabricated. It’s really sad. 

The vision of this agency is positive, but you will soon be overloaded with cases, be required to use your personal phone for work (giving clients your personal phone number) and be shamed in front of your peers if your numbers and documentation are slightly low, even if you are not at fault. People who work here are exhausted, though supportive co-workers doing the same job is a plus.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Youth counselor 157 salaries reported	$18.37 per hour
Youth worker 2 salaries reported	$18.00 per hour
Shift leader 15 salaries reported	$20.00 per hour
Case worker 21 salaries reported	$45,896 per year
Family support worker 39 salaries reported	$46,000 per year

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