mental health technician

social worker

care coordinator

child protection specialist

administrative assistant

The Buckeye Ranch

I worked for The Buckeye Ranch for 15 years. Outside of my time working at The Buckeye Ranch, I served in the U.S. Army Reserve and the Ohio Air National Guard. During my time as a Buckeye Ranch employee, I was called to active duty and deployed several times to Iraq and Afghanistan. Back then, I would say The Buckeye Ranch was supportive of the military, but I can't say the same about it now. Soon after returning from a deployment to Afghanistan, I left The Buckeye Ranch to advance my career. I left after providing notice and working out that notice. When I later wanted to return to The Buckeye Ranch, I was informed I was ineligible for rehire. That was hard to imagine how that could be considering I left on what I thought were good terms, received only positive reviews, and never received any corrective action. Interestingly, my old supervisor mentioned my constantly leaving and coming back to The Buckeye Ranch....as if it was a problem!?!? All those times I left and came back to The Buckeye Ranch were for MILITARY SERVICE and are protected under USERRA. On the good side of things, that supervisor has since retired and the CEO who allowed that particular supervisor to prevent me from returning is leaving The Buckeye Ranch. So, hopefully, there will be better leadership who appreciate long-time employees and the military.

My experience here has been rewarding and frustrating at the same time. Your success here can heavily depend on the support you received from your supervisor. There are clicks and they do play favorites but no more than I've seen at other places. Given my position I don't have to deal with alot of the stresses that go with other positions but I am aware of them. Some times management will tell you about all of the support they will give then fall short when you actually need the support. The staff that work directly with the children on campus have the hardest time, are the least supported but the most promoted as a resource in the community.  There is an imbalance there.  Overall, I believe in the programs that are offered here and the majority of the staff are hear because they have a passion for the field they are in. If I had one suggestion for the company it would be to take a harder look at the management staff are treating their employees. If there is favortism ADDRESS it! Don't let someone's years of service allow them to abuse the policies, 

I cannot recommend this workplace. As a former employee with two years of experience as a case manager, I was already aware of the negative reputation it had before I joined. During my time there, I witnessed some truly unacceptable conditions in the homes where children are placed. Many caseworkers seem indifferent to the welfare of the kids and often neglect to attend their visits. Additionally, the company shows little regard for its employees. I was let go due to an unrelated incident from eight years prior of which I had no knowledge. Despite knowing my termination was imminent, management kept me busy with extensive paperwork during my final hours. Case managers are underpaid for the tremendous demands of the job. Overall, the position is exhausting, and the workplace atmosphere is quite toxic. The well-being of both the children and the employees appears to be low on the priority list. I do not recommend working here in foster care, PFSN or TAY.  They do not pay enough for all you have to do, The higher up's and workplace is toxic and they don't care about the clients. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
The pay is the only decent part about the job. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Literally everything.  Constantly understaffed, poor management, violent youth who constantly assault both you & other youth with little to no consequences for their actions & no support from other staff like they claim you will have during training. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Poor management who will only assist you if you’re in their friend group & will gossip about you including revealing your personal medical & mental health issues with staff and other youth.  Way too many assaults with no support from other staff which causes the severe understaffing issue.  

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
They claim they want you to follow a schedule but there is never enough staff to be able to follow a schedule so the entire shift is very chaotic.  You will most likely be assaulted at least 1-3 shifts out of your 5 weekly shifts.

I started at the ranch to get through school and I didn't plan on staying. Almost 10 years later, I am still at the ranch. I have learned more from the ranch than I ever did in school.  In addition to all that I have learned, the experience and the relationships I have built are of great value to me.  In residential care, it is fast-paced and at times, very challenging.  There are so many people who offer to provide advice or assistance in times of struggle.  If I am honest, sometimes accepting advice is extremely difficult to do, but it is worth it to give it a try. The experience of helping young people and families is worth all of the challenges.  There are so many times that I have smiled when I realized that I am getting paid to play a fun game, go to a big event, and make a kid laugh.  Knowing that I have made a difference in a young person's life is the best feeling in the world. 

I receive great benefits like nice health insurance, a 401k, and a lot more paid time off than any of my friends or family.

This organization is very poorly ran. Unless you're "in" with upper management they do not care about your concerns. The work you do is not compensated well. They expect so much and give little praise or respect. They preach all these nice philosophies and scream teamwork but it's not there at all. They also say their "team" at the ranch matters but it does not show. Everyone is all for themselves. They throw good people under the bus making them their scapegoats and keep the snakes that are good at covering things up. HR is a literal joke! They don't have the decency to even show up for a meeting but have the audacity to come through video chat. They talk about the treatment of the youth which I agree is a priority but what about the treatment of the employees. They want so many people to step up, why? So upper management can step aside. Maybe the place would have more qualified candidates if they treated the employees like humans, paid a decent wage, and showed some actual appreciation. 

Their Permanent Family Solutions Network has a great mission statement but does not hold up to it unfortunately. The overall tone of the office is extremely high in sexual harassment (most of the organization is female with some GLQT mixed in. This was perfectly fine by me). They are not Straight male friendly at all. You can complain of the sexual harassment, however; all that happens is that the person who complains is harassed out. They boast the words "honesty" and "accountability" in their mission statement but it could not be further from the truth. They value neither. If you are a younger crowd, NOT a straight male you will probably have a decent chance in the company BUT you MUST be able to withstand the constant conversation that are sexual in nature; and if they decide they don't like you for any reason they will harass you out or make up false complaints against you.

I can’t speak for all areas of the organization, but in residential they repeatedly set unrealistic demands for employees but simultaneously refuse to provide any support to meet these demands. I’ve witnessed more than one amazing mid-level employee be forced to resign for either “insubordination” when those employees were doing their best to support the kids in their unit OR when they had the “audacity” to ask for a raise after working 60 hours a week spending their own money to keep the unit afloat. But if you’re working as a youth leader you’ll miss all of that but unit coordinators are very hit or miss. They can be very flexible with schedules if you need it!

Working at the Ranch has been overall a blessing for me. I enjoy the job and don’t want to leave the job, but the level of indifference towards residential staff retention has become more and more of an issue. Upper management and admin have done nothing whatsoever to make sure that current staff are supported to prevent such high turnover. Turnover is the nature of the job in residential, but there is no reason for it to be as bad as it is. My direct supervisor quit without notice due to lack of support from upper management. The new Vice President of the residential program has made plenty of effort to point fingers and no effort to see what staff on the floor need to be successful in the daily challenges of the job. If you are hoping to get a foot in the door, this is certainly a place to do it, but not one I’d recommend. 

Working with kids is never easy; let alone in a residential treatment facility; however, you can take kids to the movies, theme parks, fishing , skating bowling, etc… and get paid for it!!!  The ranch ain’t perfect.  Management does make some head scratching decisions but I’ve had way more good days than bad. And the bad days aren’t that bad. This is a challenging job and ain’t for everyone.  You have to problem solve on the go a lot because youths are very active and sneaky. Free food, schedule flexibility are some perks.  Pay is trash for some people but you ain’t getting rich working with kids.  Also support come in a variety of ways.  Need to vocalize your support instead of hoping something would happen 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Mental health technician 15 salaries reported	$20.15 per hour
Social worker 17 salaries reported	$59,054 per year
Care coordinator 10 salaries reported	$46,258 per year
Child protection specialist 2 salaries reported	$25.81 per hour
Administrative assistant 2 salaries reported	$19.21 per hour

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