Pros
Laterally, you have incredible coworkers. People that deal with the abuse so they can stay in these kids lives. The houses are functional and managed much better than the office.
Cons
Youth Progress has been aware of my physical disability since my onboarding, and its recent lack of ADA compliance has risen my concerns. When a fellow coworker with disabilities is denied her federal right to accomodation, I must believe that there will be a time when my accomodation will not be honored. In its simplest language: it has been made clear to me that accessibility is not as important as retaliation against targeted staff. I have seen multiple instances of retaliation against myself and other staff. I have witnessed and experienced write ups from my supervisor that are personal in nature, and do not cite specific rules that are broken. When staff have come forward with concerns, they have been treated in a patronizing manner. The administration actively punishes workers who are not “trauma informed”, without providing a working definition or model of what that means. Staff are treated with demeaning, canned responses (“How are you self caring?”) when they ask for help from management. There is no amount of self care that can quell the anxiety of being mismanaged. All of these concerns have been raised with several circles of management. There has been no accountability or positive change from upper management when these issues have been raised. In fact, concerns are often turned around on staff by asking, “Are you sure this line of work is a good fit for you?” This is an incredibly emotionally manipulative way of blaming legitimate concerns on the worker. The amount of gaslighting that takes place in this workplace is reprehensible. I also believe that Youth Progress has been focusing on filling beds and making money more than choosing appropriate youth for this program. This is evident by the amount of physically dangerous clients that are being admitted to a hands off, open door facility. It is unsafe to the workers and the clients. And yet no amount of physical violence seems to concern upper management. When staff express feelings of fear we are again asked the two offensive questions: “What are you doing to self care? Are you sure this line of work is a good fit for you?” One of the clients admitted cannot be communicated with in english, and has shown extraordinary aggression. This client also has crime connections that pose a legitimate threat to a program that does not have an anonymous location. The lack of forethought for safety with this population is staggering. My biggest issue will always be the amount of neglect our clients experience. When we started to discuss Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in staff meetings, it became increasingly clear that we are not providing even the most basic services. While I appreciate the desire to be diverse, Youth Progress is simply not equipped to therapeutically treat Spanish speaking clients at this time. Even our therapists admit they are outside their realm of expertise, and as a therapeutic environment we have an obligation to provide these services. We are simply not performing the services we are billing DHS for. The bottom rung of Maslow’s triangle shows that we need to provide a safe home with adequate water, hygiene, and nutrition. I have come forward dozens of time about proctor parent (redacted), concerns about her mental capacity, the cleanliness of her home, and her lack of mandatory supervision checks. Every time I spoke to a manager I was told it was being handled, but after calling CPS after her home was infested with rats, I found only one other call had been made. The call was made after (redacted) failed to perform checks, and a sexual assault occurred in her home. This is neglectful, illegal behavior. The videos and photos provided by the boys in October should have resulted in a call. It has become apparent to me that it is more important we maintain our contract with OYA then to actually treat these boys. Trauma informed care hardly seems to apply to our clients, as caseloads are changed for no transparent reason and staff are sent away without giving the children a proper goodbye. I am deeply disappointed in my experiences here, and I genuinely hope the reports I made to CPS and OYA are found credible. I have stayed this long out of concerns for my clients physical and emotional safety, but it has become clear to me that I cannot control either of those factors here. I know of several exit interviews where these factors were discussed, and I truly hope that one day our voices will be heard. Until that point I think you can expect to fail dozens of clients and continue to burn through staff that leave traumatized by this administration.
