United Methodist Family Services Review

Working for UMFS for the last 5 years has been a wonderful and inspiring experience. I've witnessed so many incredible stories of empowerment, support and healing. It's an honor to support the work of talented and passionate social workers, youth counselors, teachers, therapists, parent support partners, trainers, mentors, tutors, and foster/adoptive parents who relentlessly pursue solutions for children and families in need of assistance. UMFS is impacting communities across the entire state. I'm glad to be part of the team.

In 2003-2004 I was brought here and stayed for 13 months. I was a testing dummy for different medications including Risperdal abilify and others. They over medicated me to the point I was setting the bed every night. One incident I was sleeping so hard I rolled out of bed and broke my wrist, and slept on the floor the rest of the night unaware. It took UMFS 2 weeks to have me taken in for x-rays to see it was broken.
To the "Owner" I have been forever effected by the time I was there I have medical side effects from the medications your staff prescribed that have impacted my life in unimaginable ways. You may have good intentions but the time I spent in your facility has ruined many opportunities for me. I hope that this review reaches someone who can choose another program in time. In my time there Mr. Williams, Fooshey and John Ebert were my only good memories. 13 months of over medicating me took it's toll and if I had the means too I would file suit.
I wish there were a way to stop y'all!

UMFS offers a first class experience in working with the foster care system. They provide excellent training, support, and trauma informed care to work with children who need therapeutic foster care homes. They go above and beyond when you are faced with crisis and are available 24/7 to help. I wouldn't go anywhere else!

We chose UMFS as our agency because they offer so many ways to support youth in foster care. From group homes to schools, fostering to adoption, community outreach to political action, they are fully immersed in helping children. The agency workers are responsive and knowledgeable and the agency provides consistent training. Can't recommend UMFS enough!

I was placed in UMFS's residential services in the mid 1980s at 16. I was raised in an extremely abusive home environment, with sexual (which I repressed and the family admits they hid even while I was in UMFS), physical and emotional/verbal abuse. My now deceased mother I believe had an undiagnosed Personality Disorder, and her personal doctor later agreed with me.

I did learn important fundamentals while in UMFS and yes, it was tough. The biggest problem is that they taught me personal responsibility, encouraged me to do my best and a lot of useful skills I still use, but then they stuck me back in my abusive home where none of these skills were useful. Indeed, having these skills just gave my parents more reason to call me a failure when I couldn't meet their unreasonable expectations and thus abuse me more.

Now I am 48 years old, diagnosed with severe PTSD from severe childhood abuse, and my mother died in March of 2017. I still live with my abusive father, I'm on disability. I'm getting ready to move out.

My complaint? UMFS failed me. They taught me plenty of useful skills, useful if you're living in a healthy environment. These skills can actually be harmful however, if you are living in an abusive environment, as I was and have been the majority of my life.

UMFS failed me by improving my life and teaching me how to cope, then returning me to my abusive family and unreasonably expecting that I would be able to maintain the same level of success and achievement in that environment. I simply could not.

Only now, after my mother has died, am I finally doing the things I should have done at 20 years old. I'm returning to college this Spring and trying to finish a degree. All things I likely could have done at 20 if UMFS hadn't failed me and returned me to an abusive home environment.

I know they helped a lot of the girls I was in there with, and they went on to become very successful. But for me that doesn't matter, what matters to me is that they gave me back to my abusers and I suffered for it.

(fwiw: I wasn't kicked out of the program, I actually did successfully graduate from UMFS after 11 months)

They are nice when you take the tour, but once I became a student, they ignored me and didnt care about students

I lived here for about 9 months when i was 16 yrs old. I hope it's better now then it was 1987.

The school is unsafe for students, teachers, and support staff. Students who are sexual victims are put into small classrooms with sexual predators. Teachers and other lower level staff are bullied by administration into turning a blind eye to injustice, and punished when they advocate for student or staff rights. The company disguises itself behind nice slogans and marketing strategies.

I love working for UMFS! Being a part of this organization has led me to see the passion of the staff to help children and families. UMFS believes and puts into practice it's values and mission statements.