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Vernon County Human Services reports January caseloads and budget shifts; committee approves verification-services policy update
Summary
At its meeting, Vernon County Human Services presented January program statistics for health care and FoodShare recipients, childcare subsidies, ADRC contacts, meals delivered and other services; the committee approved a policy update to the department's verification services to reflect Microsoft Teams and interpreter procedures.
Vernon County Human Services presented monthly program and financial reports covering FoodShare, health care recipients, childcare subsidies, ADRC contacts, energy assistance and child welfare caseloads, and the committee approved an update to the department’s verification-services policy.
Key figures presented for January include a FoodShare benefit issuance of $342,600; childcare subsidy issuance of $21,255 (18 families served, 28 children); and total FoodShare recipients reported at 2,530. The department also reported 3,228 health-care-only recipients and a total recipients figure provided in the packet materials.
The Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC) reported 967 phone calls and 94 walk-ins in January, an increase of more than 200 calls from the prior month. The ADRC’s nutrition program delivered 2,278 home-delivered meals and 993 congregate meals for a monthly total of 3,271 meals; two days of meals were canceled in January because of inclement weather. Transportation services reported 64 volunteer-driver trips, 28 minibus trips and 74 accessible-minivan trips; the department said two home-delivery driver positions are currently vacant.
Child welfare and youth services updates: Family and Children staff reported 11 screened-in Child Protective Services investigations and 13 screened-out reports (24 total), with maltreatment types that included physical abuse, neglect and sexual abuse. Case loads averaged about 68 open cases across staff, and the department reported 28 children in foster care and 28 in kinship care, along with placements in group homes and residential care centers.
On finances, staff said some state and federal fund lines are running higher than expected because of newly received allocations and prior-year restricted funds that were expended (for example, a Families First allocation received in 2024). Staff said the elderly-benefit-specialist position’s funding has been moved into the ADRC fund for 2025 to align accounting with program funding sources.
Policy update passed: The committee voted to update the department’s verification-services policy, which staff said mainly updates language to reflect use of Microsoft Teams for conferences and clarifies how the department will obtain interpreter services for non–English-speaking or deaf and hard-of-hearing clients. Court counsel reviewed an updated release-of-information form and the department said it is piloting the revised form with the Family and Children unit before departmentwide rollout.
A committee member called for continued monitoring of federal changes that could affect Medicaid and other state-administered funding. Staff said there was no immediate local impact but that the department will keep the committee apprised as state or federal decisions become clearer.
Ending: Staff also reported progress on an RFP for a client information management system; demonstrations are complete and staff are awaiting technical answers about compatibility with the Wisconsin immunization registry before proceeding to finalize procurement.
