Pros
- Interacting with residents that appreciate the services offered for free at the ranch - 3 days off - Free housing and no utility bills - Free on ranch doctor visits - Very little commute
Cons
- There were several times when we'd be required to work in a home that didn't have a guest bathroom, so we'd have to drive to our apartment to use the bathroom. - We'd work 6 days straight and many times be pressured to work overtime - They would keep residents that blatantly aren't adhering to the terms of admission, just to keep up their "numbers" to meet unclear organizational requirements - Living where we worked left no work/homelife balance - We were only paid for 12 hours a day and were expected to work 24 hours a day - If somebody covered our earned "Paid Time Off", then we'd be told that we "owed" them - There was a strong emphasis on building relationships with residents, but Alternate Houseparents are used as "hole fillers" in the schedule and would be inconsistently placed in various homes (making it very difficult to build relationships and trust with residents) - On top of the challenging responsibilities as a Houseparent, you were required to do additional duties (i.e. airport runs, ranch tours, in-town doctor appointment runs, etc.) - We were expected to cover the night shift at homes, (upaid and away from our apartment,) sleeping on mattresses that have been slept on by several other employees - There was a great amount of turnover in staff, so other Houseparents would have to pick up the slack and work overtime often.