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Vermont DCF outlines services and search for secure youth facility, cites staffing and budget details
Summary
Commissioner Chris Winters briefed the Senate Health & Welfare Committee on the Department for Children and Families's six divisions, staffing and budgets, and ongoing efforts to restore a secure residential placement for youth; he also provided division-level caseload and program figures.
Commissioner Chris Winters, commissioner of the Department for Children and Families (DCF), told the Senate Health & Welfare Committee that DCF employs more than 1,000 people and oversees six divisions that administer child welfare, child development, economic and disability services across the state.
The department's mission, Winters said, is to "foster the healthy development, safety, well-being, and self-sufficiency of Vermonters," and its vision is for Vermont to be "a place where people prosper, where children and families are safe and have strong, loving connections." Winters made the remarks while introducing staff and walking the committee through slides on DCF structure and programs.
Why it matters: DCF manages high-volume front-line interventions that carry legal, fiscal and community impacts. The committee heard data that frames policy choices about staffing, facilities and budget priorities.
Winters said the Family Services Division, DCF's largest, has more than 400 staff, 12 district offices and was allocated about $148,000,000 in state fiscal year 2024. He said DCF's centralized intake and emergency services received roughly 20,000 reports in 2023 and the…
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