To start, if I could give this facility a 0 star I would…read more
Beware all children of CPS, North Texas Youth Connection is not a place you want to be (no matter how temporary!) Do not let your case worker or ANYBODY coerce you into being here!!
As a youth resident of this place for 7 months, events I have witnessed and been a part of have been like no other in my 16 years of living. The environment is distressful and trauma-bearing for any child.
Natasha Hayden is a habitual liar, a manipulator, and a sorrowful excuse of a CEO. This woman's mental health status desperately needs to be assessed because she is not well. Her lies are ludicrous and said without reason. Natasha once lied to staff that her husband collapsed in Miami Florida with recurring cancer. She claimed he was unable to be located, and needed to book an emergency flight to Florida that would take place the weekend she was supposed to work in the shelter as a youth advisor (because she's understaffed). The same evening this lie took place, this woman DIALED her husband's number in front of me and my sister and he answered. Natasha introduced me to him because I've made remarks in the past about her husband resembling a Tyler Perry movie actor. I even spoke to him myself! We had a brief conversation, with laughs and all. He sounded to be in perfect condition, in a non-clinical environment. I was in shock. I had to say goodbye one more time to make sure I didn't miss the IV drip.
The extremity of the situation resulted in a staff member stepping up to work that weekend, but Mrs. Natasha was seen working in the front office on the same day. She never left the building on the supposed day of "her flight", and didn't hide it either! Since then, there has been no mention of her husband. To this day, we don't know if she has ever been able to locate him.
Obviously, this lie was told as an excuse for her to not work in the back, but it's the extent that she went to which baffled me. Why would you wish something like that on your significant other? This was merely one of Mrs. Natasha's extravagant lies.
The employee dropout rate of this facility is high. Youth advisors come in and go out by the month. During the period of my stay, I have seen 2 case managers leave along with the Financial Coordinator and Food Director. This place is severely understaffed. It is so bad that the maintenance woman works as Food Preparation, Receptionist, and Youth Advisor. Mrs. Natasha is so desperate for workers that she no longer trains them entirely. During my stay, there were random men that we kids had never seen before, hired to work. We didn't know where she got them from! One slept on our couches while on shift and ate from our pantry. Another man shadowed our case manager for 1 evening and started working with us immediately the day after. I believe there's a safety issue being violated because these people spontaneously arrive without shadowing experience as qualified workers did in the past.
Most outings that we children were supposed to go on, were canceled and postponed because there weren't enough workers to take us. During my stay, Mrs. Natasha physically assaulted an 11-year-old girl and verbally abused the children I lived with. She threatened the youths with "pressing charges" over minor incidents like leaning up against a wall for too long, sneezing, and once even picking at dried wall paint. She is a complete sadist. We have tried to take up these issues with her, but she deflects the problem onto us and gaslights. She can never answer a question directly and once had the nerve to blame us, children, for the reason her staff resigns.
This place is just awful. The work environment, how the children are treated, the youth's daily activities, the constant rescheduling of appointments, the threats, the use of detention center rules, the inability for kids to access any technology, and more. It is all truly awful. This is no place for a child, rather delinquents.
Please save yourself the trauma and find someplace else.
