Howard County Social Services reports 18,000 youth on expanded summer benefits, flags foster-care, child-support strains

Howard County Department of Social Services officials briefed the county council on benefits enrollment, child-welfare pressures and child-support arrears, telling members that federal expansions have greatly widened summer nutrition benefits while foster care and child-support arrears remain important county challenges.

Director Geneva Roo told the council Howard County receives 850–950 new monthly SNAP applications and that more than 18,000 people receive SNAP benefits. She said a new federal Summer "SunBucks" program expanded summer benefits so that more than 18,000 children in Howard County received the additional summer allotment (the county called this program “SunBucks” and said the federal supplement amounts to about $40 per child per month during the summer).

Liddy Bautista described Temporary Cash Assistance (TCA/TANF) for families with children, noting the program includes work requirements and modest monthly benefit levels. Her office cited example maximum allotments by household size and said the program’s cash amounts are small compared with the cost of living; the department also partners with workforce-development contractors to help recipients find employment and training.

Roo and staff briefed the council on child welfare: the screening unit receives 400–500 calls a month; about one-third of reports are screened in, and roughly one-third of those lead to a substantiation. She said foster-care counts have risen from roughly 66 children in March 2022 to an average between 80 and 85; Howard County currently has only 16 active foster homes, requiring many placements outside the county and producing transportation and schooling challenges for children placed out of the jurisdiction.

On child support, staff said the county manages nearly 4,000 cases, with about 2,400 orders in arrears. They said roughly 480 noncustodial parents who live in Howard County are in arrears, with average arrearage figures discussed and a total arrears estimate of about $21 million. County staff noted enforcement tools include wage garnishments (about half of collections) and bank liens, but many noncustodial parents work in unreported cash jobs or become difficult to locate; the county plans workforce referrals and noted the county executive included approximately $250,000 for workforce training in recent budgets (staff said plans are still being developed for service implementation).

Council members asked for data on trends and for breakout details; DSS staff said some trend analysis would require additional time to produce. Roo also described operational metrics: the department reported 95%+ compliance on application processing under federal timeliness standards and said the county offers a $2,500 emergency assistance grant program for one-off needs (rent, utilities, car repairs).

Council members discussed outreach to recruit foster parents and offered to include recruitment materials in council newsletters. Roo said the Maryland Department of Human Services rebranded materials and the county office is updating its graphics before broad distribution.

Council members did not take formal votes on funding during the presentation but discussed the potential to support budget requests for staffing and programming that would respond to the department’s needs.