My wife is a teacher's aide at a school for kids with autism and various learning/developmental disabilities, and this weighs on her often. It's always in the back of her mind that in a few years the kids will age-out of the school, which often means it's off to a group home (an especially depressing thought for the kids without much money or family).

I think that along with the below-living-wage salary, the seeming futility of her efforts make the job really difficult for her. She has to remind herself that improving her students' quality of life and giving them love/connection in the moment is worthwhile, even if there's no way to "protect" them from the realities of life after ~20.