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DSS director explains county role, intake numbers and legal limits on visitation
Summary
Durham County Department of Social Services Director Maggie Clapp told commissioners DSS administers state policy locally, handles intake and CPS assessments (November: 1,609 calls, 651 accepted), and cannot change court‑ordered visitation; she said children in care fell from 270 to 176 since April 2023 and reunifications increased 36%.
Director Maggie Clapp and the county child‑welfare legal team gave a detailed briefing on how child‑welfare work is organized and why many decisions are controlled by the courts.
Clapp framed North Carolina’s system as “state supervised, county administered,” saying the state issues policy while county DSS operates intake, investigations and service delivery. She described intake volume and screening after Durham’s switch to a statewide system: “In November, we had 1,609 phone calls into our abuse hotline for 1 month. We…
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