Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Social Services topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Botetourt DSS reports caseload numbers, program mix and shortage of resource homes
Summary
The county's Department of Social Services reported program caseloads, described benefit and protective services, and urged community members to consider becoming resource (foster) homes.
Dr. Raquel Rogers, director of Botetourt County Department of Social Services, gave an overview of the department's programs, caseloads and staffing at the board's meeting and asked the community for help recruiting resource (foster) homes.
Rogers said the department serves 17,836 residents in its family services and benefit programs and that average monthly issuances to residents total about $296,800. She described three divisions in the local agency ' administration, family services and benefit programs ' and explained that the office is a non-deviating local agency that follows the Virginia Department of Social Services Administrative Manual while being state-supervised and locally administered.
On protective services, Rogers described response timelines for allegations of maltreatment (response windows of 24, 48 or 72 work hours depending on the risk level) and said the department uses an investigative-to-in-home-services transfer process when appropriate. She said the Permanency Unit currently has eight children and that the department relied on three resource (foster) homes in the county, describing the number as "dire need" and inviting community members to contact the agency about becoming resource homes.
Rogers reviewed the benefit programs administered locally, including Medicaid and FAMIS (medical assistance), SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) and VIEW (Virginia Initiative for Education and Work), child-care assistance and energy-assistance programs. She said SNAP recipients were being connected to the Botetourt Farmers Market in Daleville and that the department helped 236 families last quarter with energy-related matters, including some households receiving heat-pump installations.
Board members asked whether federal funds support SNAP and TANF; Rogers confirmed those programs are federally funded and noted that funding flows through the Commonwealth and that the local match is approximately 15.5 percent county funds while 85 percent comes from state/federal sources for certain benefit-program administration.
Rogers thanked county staff and members of the local DSS board and introduced agency staff who were in the audience. She answered clarifying questions about program administration and enrollment; the department noted eight families on the child-care program and additional households on waiting lists.
