childcare provider

San Diego Regional Center

Working as a Service Coordinator at the San Diego Regional Center has been a profoundly frustrating experience. The organization's management exhibits a disturbing sense of entitlement and favoritism, severely hindering our ability to effectively support our clients. Managers at the San Diego Regional Center often seem disconnected from the day-to-day realities of service coordination. They make decisions that prioritize bureaucratic efficiency over the genuine needs of our clients. When issues arise, instead of providing meaningful support, managers are quick to deflect responsibility or simply ignore concerns altogether. Human resources practices within the organization are rife with favoritism. It's disheartening to witness promotions and opportunities being handed out based on personal relationships rather than merit or dedication to the mission of supporting individuals with disabilities. This creates a toxic work environment where morale is low, and many talented coordinators feel undervalued and overlooked. Support for Service Coordinators is virtually non-existent. We are often left to navigate complex cases and advocate for our clients with minimal guidance or resources. Requests for additional training or assistance are met with indifference or excuses about budget constraints.
Management's lack of empathy and understanding trickles down to impact our clients directly. Many families and individuals with disabilities struggle to access essential services or face unnecessary delays due to bureaucratic inefficiencies and managerial indifference. San Diego Regional Center's management culture of entitlement, lack of support for frontline staff, and favoritism within human resources undermines its mission to serve the community effectively. Service Coordinators like myself are passionate about our work, but we need leadership that values transparency, fairness, and genuine commitment to improving the lives of those we serve.


The reason I have not left is because theres no other agency that allows so much flexibility with employees' schedule. I am able to get every Friday off! How cool is that!

Caseloads can get as high as 100 clients, which can cause major burn out. There has been mention that  caseloads should be lowering for over a year, and SDRC is yet to follow through. 

Seasoned Service Coordinators are required to train new staff members who are offered a higher pay rate than a staff member who has been working their for over 2 years. How is it fair that we are training new  unexperienced Service Coordinators and making less than they are? 

I enjoy coming into the office as everyone is friendly, welcoming, and willing to help. Case Managers are hired based on who they know not what they know. My case manager is unprofessional and knowledgeable. This makes our job as serviced coordinators more difficult. 

There is no transparency when it comes to higher pay rates for bilingual speakers. My recommendation if you are thinking about applying for bilingual service coordinator... DO NOT DO IT!! They claim that it is a 10% pay rate increase... not true. I came in making as much as a individual who spoke 1 language with the same experience and educational background as I did and we got offered the same pay rate.

Overall this job is very full-filling. We really do help our clients and I feel like I make a difference every day. The burn out, lack of unfulfilled promises, poor training, and pay really makes you really consider working here.

This job is incredibly rewarding, however case loads are very high so you always will feel behind especially if you have multiple clients going through crisis at the same time. Most of management and co-workers are very supportive. Although the work seems insurmountable taking meetings in the community with your clients and hearing about their successes makes you forget the tougher moments in the job. If you are interested in exploring case management and serving individuals with developmental disabilities this job will teach you so much. The training and skillset is highly specific to regional center, but the soft skills and report writing skills you learn at this job will follow you as a social worker. The adult clients are incredibly enjoyable to partner with and serve and you get the opportunity to support a wide range of amazing people who are working toward reaching their goals. The only major downside to this job is attempting to collaborate with rude, dodgy, untruthful, and shady leadership and staff that work  at some select vendors that serve regional center clients. Sadly service providers are limited so it seems that regional center continues to accept partnerships with unprofessional individuals in the community that make the service coordinator job far more difficult than it needs to be. 

This job is a good to obtain experience, but don't stay here. The pay overtime is not well. For example Service coordinators deal with the bulk of the work, yet the pay does not add up. Oh, you think because you do good at your job during your performance review that you will get a raise? Well, good luck it's only if its in the budget and everyone who is in good standing gets it too. Almost all services are backed up and have no staffing. Also the people who approve services is always upper management, but SC's are the ones that have to tell the families "no". Upper management has also been chaghing everything lately, on top of all your work you have to now complete more forms. If you're bilingual I sugguest not even telling them because according to them you get "$100" extra but it's been this way for yearssss and not worth it. Some managers are great, but others make you question how they can even be managers. I met some good people here and people that I would never want to see again. The retention here is very low. So many people quit constantly which is why they are always hiring. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
The best part of working at SDRC is assisting the clients and their families get the services they need and seeing the changes in their life’s that  you have contributed to. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The most stressful part of the job is having to remember the new guidelines that are brought in. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment and culture is great. Coworkers are always willing to assist and share their knowledge of f you aren’t afraid to ask for help. Very family friendly culture. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
There is no typical day. Every day is different due to every client being different. You are in a busy sometimes hectic environment but it’s worth it.

If you’re looking for flexibility in your schedule, this job does offer that (you can choose between 10-hour shifts, 8-hour shifts, or a 9-hour shift with every other Friday off) That’s probably the biggest (and only) perk.
Now for the reality: The program managers are not empathetic, and the higher-ups only look out for each other. There’s a huge turnover rate, which says a lot, and honestly, they don’t seem to care about their employees. Discrimination is a real issue, and even if you report things to HR, nothing really changes. On top of that, management is incredibly rude and condescending. What’s worst is that I’ve personally witnessed them making fun of clients with developmental disabilities (at a company that’s supposed to be supporting those individuals).
Overall, I wouldn’t recommend working here. There are way better places that will actually respect you and the people they serve.

Overall a good agency that strives to support clients with disabilites. 
Most of the clients/families are wonderful to work with, but some can extremely hostile. 

The expereince can be very different depending on the Program Manager and age group you're working with.  There are very few opportunities for advancement unless you have a master's degree, but no opportunities for supervision. The best part is that you can pick different work schedules and the extra time off can help with managing stress. Pay and benefits are decent. 

As a new employee you are handed a large out of date caseload with very little training or support and expected to do tons of diving (you do get mileage pay, but it is still a lot of wear and tear on your car). 
It's a sink or swim enviroment. Several co-workers left after about 6 months.

SDRC upper management are out of touch and don’t care about staff needs. They support a culture of not caring about staff concerns and the needs of clients. SDRC upper management are the main barrier to clients receiving needed services. They need to have an audit and DDS needs to step in and shine a light on the practices that are supported with state funding. Upper management are disconnected and have lost their vision of serving clients with disabilities. It’s wrong and without state intervention these practices will continue. Clients and their families deserve better from an agency that has been given tax payers money to support people with disabilities. I would not recommend working at SDRC. 

The management is not helpful and the higher ups are horrible. They just kind of help you, but mostly have you figure everything out on your own. The caseloads are too high with no end in sight of them getting better. 100 are more clients in each caseload. People like to gossip, tell lies on people, and some employees here are back stabbers. The work environment is toxic. The Regional Centers say that we’re “family” just to be manipulative. Clients don’t really get the help they need here, and a lot of people hate their job here and do the bare minimum because everyone is so overworked and burnt out. It’s good experience but apply and work here at your own risk. Just be careful. 

Consistent flow of work. Caseloads are high (80+ clients and it can be stressful for some. In general, staff are pretty supportive. The job is low-paying compared to similar positions  at other companies however this position is hourly and not salary. Great working with clients and their families and it is a very rewarding job. It's a good start into case management / social work. You can't get licensing hours any more, maybe it will change in the future.

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