case manager

child welfare specialist

clinician

preschool teacher

counselor

Lutheran Services Florida

Employees face challenges from poor leadership at all levels in this agency, ranging from ineffective communication to inconsistent protocols. The leadership's lack of qualifications and consideration has led to a work environment where employees are overwhelmed and unsupported.

Communication Challenges: A significant issue facing the organization is the inadequate communication skills demonstrated by its leaders. Emails and memos frequently contain grammatical mistakes, causing confusion among employees. For example, instructions are often ambiguous, with incoherent sentences that hinder staff from grasping their responsibilities. Meetings designed to clarify and unify teams often lead to more questions than solutions, due to unclear agendas and disorganized discussions.

Inconsistent Protocols: Another significant problem is the inconsistency in protocols. Employees are often left to navigate a maze of ever-changing rules and procedures. This inconsistency creates an environment where staff cannot rely on established processes, leading to frustration and inefficiency. For example, a mandatory procedure last week might be deemed irrelevant the following week, with no explanation or rationale provided, or the opposite: a new mandatory procedure without any explanation or opportunity for employee feedback.

Unqualified Leadership: From the director level down, many leaders seem unqualified for their roles. Their lack of expertise is evident in their decisions, which often cause more harm than good. The director, in particular, tends to delegate tasks to lower-level leaders who are unprepared to manage them due to inadequate training. This avoidance of accountability and responsibility filters down, leaving employees without proper guidance or direction.

Inconsiderate and Micromanagement Practices: Company leaders disregard employees' workloads and well-being. Micromanagement is prevalent, with leaders obsessing over minute details instead of strategic oversight. This approach demotivates employees and stifles their creativity and productivity. Moreover, management's lack of empathy makes employees feel undervalued and stressed.

Lack of Training and Resources: Employees are often thrown into their roles without the proper training or tools to succeed. After the background and screening are complete, the onboarding process is virtually nonexistent, leaving new hires to fend for themselves. This lack of preparation exacerbates the feeling of being overwhelmed as workers struggle to meet expectations without the necessary support or resources.

The company's leadership failures have created a challenging work environment marked by poor communication, inconsistent protocols, unqualified leaders, and a lack of employee support. To address these issues, the company must invest in leadership training, provide more oversight in the leadership selection process above the executive program level, establish clear communication channels, and provide the necessary resources for employees to thrive. Without these changes, the company risks high turnover and a continued decline in employee morale.


While working as a case manager, there was a constant turnover ... why is that ... surely it can't be the individuals because every kind of individual left the organization regularly ... then there was a complete reorganization, firing of the director (then a horrible new hire) ... but what was the worst part of the job was how the management treated the staff ... it is (or at least was) a very fear oriented management environment. Working with families is such a wonderful experience but then to step back into the office and deal with the level of control was extraordinary ... no support for case managers ... either you deal with it or you or done ... or in my case, found another job - like many, and I'm talking many, of my co-workers each month. There are no apt words to describe the horrible working environment ... not only at LFS but also at other subcontractors  ... why anyone would work there it must have been like me ... an absolute necessity for survival... this place will taint your whole perspective on helping others because, while my families enjoyed me, the system is not only broken ... it is just wrong ... how should individuals sitting in an office have the right to decide whether a child stays with a family or not. Why are they not working towards family preservation rather than child removal. And even when a child is removed, it does not help the child, they bounce from placement to placement much of the time, and even when a child is returned, there is no real permanent lasting change in the parent because the system is not setup to facilitate that -- truly -- only a person who wants to make positive changes can in fact make those changes ... not by coercion ... or force that we will not give your child back until you go to these classes ... or we will take them away for life.... broken system ... case plan smashe plan ... why are we letting the government control the welfare of children when they do such a lousy job of it? Managers with little or no personal experience as a parent, case managers too young for any real life experiences, cya paperwork so extraordinary that no human could adequately manage the demands of the job, and extremely high expectations daily in meetings and staffings to clearly articulate the status of 1 of 20 families of a case at any given time - while being given more and more and more each and every day. When I gave my notice, they gave me more, not less, work and I could not understand it - I wanted to leave my cases good condition but there was so much I could not possibly follow-through with everything. And that's another thing, when a person leaves, they are blamed for everything wrong on the case - there is no empathy, understanding, or an accurate assessment of the circumstances at any point - management in these environments are like a military environment ... did I mention these jobs, that are dealing with the lives of families, only pay $14 an hour and health benefits are so extraordinary that no one can afford them? I was very grateful for the job at the time because I needed it but I will tell you, run away from these environments and get into any other line of work ... these jobs will ruin your perspective on your ability to help others in a professional working environment ... do something independent because government child welfare does not work and hurts families and our society.

This place was a horrible place to work. It was hard to keep people due to the lack of job advancement. 

Redundant paper work, contest abuse from clients and other staff members. This place in Crestview, FL was horrible and the mold and hazards are high with wires exposed to clients and staff.  Supervisors  didn't care about the problems they only cared about intakes and would routinely short staff and place intakes back to back requiring one person to watch five to six clients, do roleplay's, pointcards, cook, do showers, and paper work. While one person had to do an intake which if the intake was cooperative took an hour to two hours. If the intake was not cooperative it would take uppers to four hours or more. 

Supervisors would not staff the shelter with more than two max but would make promises to clients that the next shift could not meet. This place is poorly run and poorly mismanaged. 

Also, having random people show up at the door step at all hours looking for food because of a food program and telling them you couldn't give it to them because it was not your program but it was ran by the people at the shelter who only work hours they felt they needed to work.

Clients would write false accusations and supervisors would just roll with it. Like we know you didn't do anything wrong but this supervision is just stating that we talk about the accusation and you will try very hard not to do it again even though you didn't do anything wrong. It was total wrong doing on their part to even have the meeting with you.

They would also you fear tactics to scary you into do something you know was wrong. Like keeping a client up past bedtime just repeating the same thing over and over again. "I need you to write down negative one thousand." Client A. You would keep saying it over and over and the points would keep going too. So at the end of it all after a few times it feels like torture because you now have made this client sleep deprivation due to the fact it took two or three hours to finish Crisis teaching and they got to be up in four hours for school, and all because he didn't say something like "Sorry or excuse me." or he did say something but, was misheard which has happen tons of times.

I could write a book on the evil things this place has done. I am a shame I did not stand up to the bullies who work at this place.

The one positive thing I can say is if this place really wanted to be great, it would fire everyone who was in charge, and hire new people and move away from that building.

Working at LSF has truly been a blessing. When I first started, I was stepping into my role in the middle of an audit, and while it was a challenging start, the support and encouragement I received made all the difference. Now, I can honestly say that I love coming to work every day.

The workplace culture at LSF is unlike anything I've experienced before — it’s positive, uplifting, and centered around compassion and purpose. My coworkers are not only professional and respectful, but also deeply caring. They go out of their way to include everyone in events, check in on each other, and foster a true sense of community.

What makes LSF even more special is that the work we do genuinely serves a greater good. You can see that every employee here truly cares — not only about the individuals and families we serve, but also about each other. It’s rare to find a workplace where people are driven by such genuine passion and heart.

As a Christian, I am especially grateful to be in an environment where I can worship God openly and freely. LSF embraces faith as a cornerstone of the mission, and it is incredibly meaningful to work somewhere that honors that.

If you're looking for a workplace where purpose meets passion, where you're valued as a person, and where your faith can be expressed freely, LSF is the place. I'm proud to be part of a team doing such important work, and I feel truly blessed to be here.

I enjoy the nature of the job because helping others is my true passion. I enjoy helping bring families back together or achieving permanency and finding forever families for those children who cannot go back to their families. 
The management team is supportive at the lower level, but once you get past direct supervisors, assistant program directors and the program director, management makes employees feel demoralized and not valued. 
I don't have a typical day at work, because every day is different, which I enjoy, however, the chaos can become overwhelming at times. I can spend and entire day in the field, in court, or in the office, or any combination of the three. I enjoy how fast paced the job is, and how I can make my own schedule and scatter my hours to flex in and out at different times during the week. 
My co-workers are very enjoyable to work with and bring a light air to the office environment. Everyone works together to bring up office morale, and support one another as well as assist each other with our work load. 
The most enjoyable part of my job is working with children and making children safe, happy and healthy. Giving children a permanent home and stable living environment that they can thrive in, means more than anything in the world. When I make a child happy, or brighten a child's day in any way, there is no better feeling in my eyes.
The hardest part of my job is removing children from their parents and splitting families apart. Even though I know that it is what is best for the children in terms of their safety and well-being, it is absolutely one of the hardest things that I have ever had to do. 
As long as I make even the smallest difference in a child's life, that is the only thing that matters to me.

Horrible work Culture. All the higher ups are severely unprofessional to new hires. Training is online and is paid which is nice. But when it comes to actual out in the field training, it is utterly lacking. They will throw you out there as soon as you are certified with very little knowledge of what it is you have to do. They expect you to have a massive case Load within a month of working there. You have to use your own car and they only cover mileage, so if your car breaks down from driving around the entire state on a weekly bases you are screwed. You have to be on call every week. They don't want you to work overtime, but expect you to perform cases at all hours of the day, clocking out in-between cases so that you can maintain 40 hours a week. 0 Work/life balance. The only good thing about this job is that you will be making a difference in children's lives and they raised the pay to $25/hour.

I really suggest that you start treating new hires better/provide more in the field training. Reduce case load. Start doing 12 hour shifts so that more can be done in one day instead of having people clock out and making people wait to go to another case, work/ life balance is what employees look for these days and if you can't provide that your turnover rate will continue to be high. Start providing vehicles to employees. Having to use your own vehicle is the single most frustrating/stressful thing for employees working here, especially in this state. I could guarantee most employees would take a slight paycut if they had vehicles provided for them, Mileage reimbursement just isn't enough for the amount of driving you have to do.

I am tired all of the time and upper management does not care. The job itself is already difficult but if you have a personal issue that is affecting your work they don’t care. You can express your concerns and they don’t care. I am afraid to talk to my assistant program director because they don’t care. And they remind you that they don’t care. It’s in the way they ask questions and still expect things to get done even if you are having a mental health crisis. They don’t care. I ask for help and they are snarky and passive aggressive. Everyone is exhausted and it shows. I’m too young to have gray hairs and I found some after starting this job. I love working with the children and families but when you don’t have the help you need that’s when the children flip out on you. Case managers can be seriously injured and management doesn’t care. They throw children at you like some glorified babysitter and get mad when you can’t get work done. And then when you get it done they are ungrateful even if it’s before the deadline. I’m losing motivation to work here. They people that stay are so mean because the jobs beats them down. My APD is so mean. My supervisor complains to me about them. I’m becoming mean at home because of this job. I have migraines everyday. I cry everyday.  They say make time for yourself but it’s impossible as there is no work life balance. Even if I’m off work I have nightmares of things that happen in this job. The on call schedule is impossible and can be dangerous if you’re not careful. Don’t work here unless you don’t have a social life and you get it through work. The job is already hard enough but working for this agency makes it harder. And it might not be the agent itself, but it’s definitely the people and upper management. 

I'm not sure if it's child welfare in Florida that is bad or just at LSF.  Case managers are overworked and under-appreciated, which leads to no one being successful.  Case managers don't have enough time to do the job for the parents to be successful and the children's needs to be met. Children are constantly living/sleeping in the office with no rules and not proper supervision because the case managers are trying to do their jobs.  Staff are not safe because children can assault staff with no repercussions.  Children are allowed to say no to placements, going to school and following basic rules and expectations.  Offices, car seats and common areas are filthy and unsanitary. The air quality in the building is unsafe.  The upper management doesn't seem to care about the health and safety of the children or the staff. Children are moved from placement to placement many times.  Pre-service training states least restrictive placements for children.  I have witnessed very few children obtain long-term placements. Staff are forced to do overtime, with no way to comp that time later, leading to very little work/ life balance.  Staff earn PTO and sick time, but can never use it due to being over-worked. Then, if you leave before a year of employment, you don't get paid out all of that time you earned and couldn't use.  Day to day, staff and direct supervisors work really well together and support one another, which is how being here is tolerable at all.  Structural changes are desperately needed. The way things are is a huge disservice to the children, parents, staff and most importantly, the community at large. 

The unprofessional, rude attitudes of some are draining. There is one supervisor who at first seems good but soon realize its not. Your training is paid but it prepares you for about half of what you really need to know.  If you have a family or kid(s) expect to very rarely see them. The turnover is super high. On one team in particular there are entitlement issues. A couple case managers dont like to work too hard, so they will pawn their work off especially if it's a kid they dont want to deal with. There are not enough workers so people are very busy. Which leads me to the unrealistic expectations placed on case managers.  Some have issues with lying. The one supervisor is pretty rude at times. Instead of dealing with a situation like an adult, the person would choose to act unprofessional. Even if they tell you you are hired for a set schedule they will have you work past it and when you say something  you are on their bad side. The team work can be lacking. I kept hearing Lutheran was working to make things better for case managers but I'm not sure they truly care. On call is horrible most times. Court is like the Murray show or sometimes Jerry Springer. Instead of dealing with difficult teens they allow them to wonder around the office where they end up vandalizing, yelling, getting into fights, smoking, and Stealing. Cars are stealing. Why teens and even preteens are not in school and roam the office is a mystery to me.

During my time at the company my unit went from 5 employees to only me. People would come but would never stay more then a couple of months. Other units reflected the same pattern. Case managers are expected to interpret behavior if the families they work with, yet the organization is shocked when employees interpret the company’s behavior that is not conductive to running an effective business. It seems that the organization would rather continue to have a high rate of turn over burning through the money is costs to hire and train and individuals over retention efforts. Rather then retain their investment, find a way to respect their employees time on and off the lock and refuses to look inward of their business model that is so clearly failing. They would not only save significant sums of money in the long term through retention efforts, moral would also improve thus improving the satisfaction of employees and the families served. You are expected to work more then 40 hours to ensure cases are up to date but will not be paid for OT. You are expected to be on call all hours of the night. You will be expected to leave your children at home unsupervised to tend to emergencies. If you need office supplies you will be expected to supply your own. If you let HR know of these issues your employee file will be red flagged for termination. For an organization that is not supposed to be punitive with families the same does not apply to employees. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Case manager 3 salaries reported	$43,833 per year
Child welfare specialist 1 salary reported	$350 per day
Clinician 5 salaries reported	$59,433 per year
Preschool teacher 5 salaries reported	$18.74 per hour
Counselor 2 salaries reported	$42,250 per year

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