case planner

coach

case aide

mentor

family advocate

Graham Windham

A typical day is coming in at 10 AM. First thing in the morning would be - respond to phone messages, and computer e-mails, prepare for the day's work - court hearings, meeting, counseling children and their families, respond to emergencies and place children in foster homes, or remove children from troubled foster home placement. Make home visits to foster parents and biological parents, schools, and hospitals.
I have learned a new case management model (Solution Based Casework-SBC) that asked why did the child/ren come into care and what is it that the agency, the courts and family members do to have the child/ren reunify with their parents or place in a Residential Treatment Center-RTC. When I arrived, management was poor. Since then, new management was put into place (agency wide) and the outcome the level of management was improved and receiveda rating of good.
My co-workers, at first, found it difficult to work in this environment, but since the new management team was put into place, the workers have found it a bit better to manage working in such a highly stressful enveironment. We now realized that this type of work is not for everyone.
The hardest part of case manangement in foster care is the traveling, manageing the paper work, and overall manangement of the case work under a great deal of pressure.
The most enjoyable pare of the job is seeking the children making progress in a foster care system and being reunited with their family.

The most enjoyable part of this job are the kids. The kids we work with have behavioral and organic mental health conditions. Its not easy but once you build a therapeutic relationship with them and they see that you naturally care its very rewarding. I love when parents experience that ah ha moment and learn new techniques to use with their kids. For the most part, management is supportive when everything is going right.  Co-workers can be supportive and others can be supportive when it serves themselves. The CEO appears to be wonderful however our interactions are limited as its only when he's on campus for an event. If you decide to work for this company and employees are telling you as the newbie which employees to look out for you should be weary of the reporter.  There are some very sneaky people here with personal agendas.  Some staff has a tendency of becoming jealous when the kids are drawn to certain team members. As much as you want to help the kids, stick to your job description there are consequences if you go above the call of duty.

Graham Windham is an excellent organization with tantamount staff.  Although exemplary in their organizational culture and leadership, many of the challenges to Graham Windham are consistent with other organizations within the field of Child Welfare.  Funding to foster families and foster care programs are inefficient and place burdens on all stakeholders.  Organizations have to be creative in their budgeting and fundraising efforts to support programs and retain talented employees.  

The work at Graham Windham requires talented individuals whom can self-govern, highly motivated, are goal driven, and display patience.  To engage the youth and to build bridges with families staff need progressive training and education, while also managing documentation and stress.  Days can be long and heart-breaking, and staff often step-up to support one another and the families. 
 
Despite the challenges, building support networks and watching families succeed are amazing feelings.  Not a day at Graham Windham feels wasted, the people you help and the impact you leave is its own reward.

The day consisted of making at least 10 visits to foster homes, schools, biological parents, and doctors. I learned people have come to accept their children being placed in foster care and enjoy freedom from being a parent as long as they can visit their child. Supervisors at Graham were very supportive and the management style was something I looked at which allowed me to perform my duties at Women In Need as a Supervisor. I still have positive relationship with all of my coworkers I met at Graham Windham.  I enjoyed working with them and was sad when I left. The hardest part of the job was seeing young females that were led into prostitution and their biological parents knew it and did nothing to prevent it.  It was hard when children wanted to return home but could not because their parents were refusing to comply with services to allow the children to be returned to their care.  I enjoyed when I had those parents that worked hard to have their children returned to their care once reality of the fact their children were no longer with them set in.  It was a great feeling to see mother and child smiling from ear to ear and just being thankful.

The most important and enjoyable about my current job is that  I am responsible for meeting  scheduled  visit  to meet with caregiver and child twice a month for 45 minutes or more  to determine that services are meeting the child needs. Throughout the month  I complete service summary  , progress notes , team meeting , update the team on progress,  requirement summary, monitoring the services ,documents tracking , services provision verify billing, and communicate the child's  progress and other  related duties.  I enjoy seeing change and growth in the child and parents.The hardest thing about the job is  the paper work,  too many  kids on caseload and parents  not following strategies and techniques to help the child on a consistent basis. The agency it self is potentially good , but the  incompetent supervisor and manager  make the work harder and stressful not giving work back on time, and wasting time socializing   .One thing I have learned is to keep focus , work hard  and complete as much work as possible on a daily  basis  to help the family grow and be successful in the home and community.

Graham Windham Cornerstone is a Non- Profit organization that helps, protect and serve our youth, up until adult ages. Graham Windham provides services to not only with foster care. We also provide extra curricular activities, after school services from kindergarten to middle school, and teens and young adult activities for the community. Working with kids is not only a Blessing in itself, but it is a wonderful experience to be apart of. A typical day at Graham Windham cornerstone is arriving at 5pm, greeting children and staff, overseeing dismissal between 530pm and 630pm. Transitioning over to the night teen and young adult activities where they have a place to unwind and enjoy what they love to do. Example: playing basketball, playing video games, playing pool, Dancing, attending career club to better their future. The work place here is very warm and welcoming and is a safe haven for all. what I've learned working here is more patience, dealing with various situations at any given moment. All in All working for Graham Windham is truly a gift, and a Blessing.

Graham Windham expects 1 person to do the work of 3 people. You constantly have to run to court, check foster homes, biological parents homes, write non stop paperwork for the agency, ACS, the court, etc. On top of that you’re forced to do other people’s work. In my opinion no case planner is paid enough for that ridiculous workload. The agency is understaffed, it is very hard for them to keep employees. The entry level salary isn’t worth the workload that you’re expected to manage. The management is very poor, not only do the employees complain but the parents & foster parents also complain about how disorganized the Agency is. I found myself working 10-12 hour shifts sometimes without a lunch break. Definitely not for someone that has a family. They don’t like to pay overtime. The agency is supposed to help families but instead they work toward destroying families. If you’re thinkig about working here just use them for the experience & money & RUN!!!!!! Like everyone else.

Ghraham Windhamm, is specialized school for children facing diverse special needs which facilitates children with some special needs and their parents the opportunity to further expand their academic potential in a reduced class room setting. The Ghram Windhamm  scholastic site runs two distinct programs. One of  the two programs is designed  specificly for pre- schoolers and children in their early childhood years. This The Ghram Windhamm Nursery  recruits a limited poputlation of students. These students recieve a day long of class as well as outside services like physical therapy, counseling and other services as requested. The second program at Ghram Windham, is a more mainstreamed setting in which children recieve an elementry preparation from K-5th grade and depending on a child's needs and IEP they may recieve other outside services upon request and the child's IEP.

This job is very demanding. Many people cannot do it, and therefore the pay should be more. Some days are better than others. Lot of home visits, reports, preparing for and appearing in court, referrals, never-ending notes, dealing with grown adults who act like children, ETC. Management does not care how hard the work is or the barriers, it needs to get done no matter what and we receive no help to achieve that. They'll tell you time management is key when actually, all the work needed to complete in a timely manner, is IMPOSSIBLE. But it really depends on how chaotic your cases are. My day to day changes, most of it consists of supervising family visits, conducting home visits, completing notes for said visits with a ton of other things in between. 
I'll say the income has increased and hopefully continues to do so, yearly bonus is a great plus, as well as working with children. I stay because of the children and truthfully I like the challenge of pushing myself. 

I enjoy the freedom, I have in creating my own schedule. As long as I meet the budgeted hours for the month, I can work on any days I choose. Some fore sight and planning are required. The workplace culture is very supportive and staff is always willing to listen and provide guidance. The hardest part of the job is the tedious paper work(no matter how long it takes you to complete you are paid 15 mins per document). This job also requires you to "meet the families where they are" This means mentally and physically. In short you will be spending a lot of time in public transit (Employee travel not reimbursed). Overall its a good company, they do good work and have a mission that everyone who works here truly believes in. Graham wants to make a difference and is flexible in its approaches to family intervention and progress, something I appreciate.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Case planner 37 salaries reported	$57,129 per year
Coach 25 salaries reported	$48,548 per year
Case aide 11 salaries reported	$44,996 per year
Mentor 25 salaries reported	$19.58 per hour
Family advocate 6 salaries reported	$42,827 per year

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