Pros
This job truly did have me feeling like I was making a difference for the first several months, as another reviewer mentioned. I was helping a lot of kids, until burnout inevitably occured.
Cons
The hours worked fluxuate from 7:30-3:30, and 2:00-10:00, and sometimes you are scheduled to leave at 10, and arrive back to work at 7:30, only 9 hours later, which, if you have a commute, makes for a very bad nights sleep. It messed with my circadian rhythm bad, and ruined my entire sense of well-being. Harsh environment, some of the staff yell at the kids to try to exert their power rather than stay calm and try to talk it out. Also in comparison to other jobs I was working very very hard for the 11/hr, with no provided breaks (had to beg for them ,or I wouldn't receive them, and then after getting one you would get looked down on by the others because they had to work harder). It is very much a job with little to no opportunity for advancement, the raises are 10 cents a year, which obviously wont add up anytime soon. Also, the management seems to encourage some very questionable interventions and plans with children, some of which seemed to add psychological distress to the children. This was why I left.