The mission of the Virginia Department of Social Services is to design and deliver high quality human services that help Virginians achieve safety, independence and overall well-being.

A Commonwealth in which all Virginians have the resources and services they need to shape strong futures for themselves, their families and their communities.

• 
  

  Commit to Excellence

  
  


• 
  

  Think Bigger

  
  


• 
  

  Place People First

  
  


• 
  

  Embrace Differences

  
  


• 
  

  Win Together

  
  

Our core values are the enduring principles we use to do business with integrity and high standards each day. Our values set the tone for our agency’s culture, and should be reflected in our mindset and interaction with each other – and those we serve.

The Virginia Department of Social Services (VDSS) and its key partners – local departments of social services (LDSS) and community action agencies – work together to help individuals and families triumph over poverty, abuse, and neglect to shape strong futures for themselves, their families, and their communities.  VDSS and its partners directly serve at least 25% of Virginians every year by providing many of the Commonwealth’s most critical services, including administering social safety net programs, protecting children and adults from abuse and neglect, providing subsidized child care that allows parents to work, enhancing early childhood development, collecting child support to improve the lives of children, licensing adult and child care facilities to ensure their safety, and encouraging work through workforce development services. The agency also administers other programs, including domestic violence prevention, volunteerism, and refugee resettlement.

The statutory authority for VDSS's activities is the Code of Virginia Title 63.2 Welfare (Social Services). Subtitles I through VI refer to General Provisions Related to Social Services, Public Assistance, Social Service Programs, Licensure, Administrative Child Support and Grant Programs and Funds.  Some of these programs include federal mandates.

The Department of Social Services has several top areas and objectives, which are aligned with the Governor's goals of maintaining a 21st century economy, promoting innovation and good government, and creating a healthy Virginia:

1. 
   

   Increasing safe and stable living situations for children, adults and families; prevent child abuse.

   
   


2. 
   

   Promoting strategies that encourage a culture of health through stable housing, access to high quality health care, and proper nutrition.

   
   


3. 
   

   Aligning Virginia's workforce to meet current and anticipated employer demands with career pathways and training solutions for dislocated, underemployed, and future workers.

   
   


4. 
   

   Working to help people move from poverty to self-sufficiency.

   
   


5. 
   

   Promoting strategies to improve nutrition for Virginians in at-risk circumstances.

   
   

VDSS is addressing the above-mentioned priorities through the key performance measures and the following initiatives and strategies:

• 
  

  Achieving Adoptions & Permanency from Foster Care: Engaging families and the community to support permanency for children; expanding foster parent recruitment and support; monitoring and improving the provision of foster care services; reducing congregate care placements except when needed to address short-term acute treatment needs; providing additional permanency options for youth living with relative foster parents; and supporting LDSS agencies with the adoption finalization process.

  
  


• 
  

  Enhanced Child Welfare Monitoring: Implementing a new Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) structure to support the child welfare case review process and improve the outcomes for children and families served by VDSS.

  
  


• 
  

  Child Support Family Engagement Programs: Collaborating with courts and community partners to provide resources that assist parents in overcoming barriers that prevent them from meeting their child support obligations.The Division of Child Support Enforcement uses intensive case management and community-based resources to provide pathways for parents to overcome obstacles such as employment, education, transportation, and health to provide consistent financial support for their children.

  
  


• 
  

  Strong Partnership with Community Action in Poverty-Elimination: Working with Community Action Agencies using our Results-Oriented Management and Accountability (ROMA) framework to equip and align community action programs on eliminating the causes of poverty and to focus on community-level problem solving and systemic change.

  
  


• 
  

  Supplemental Nutrition Assistance and Employment and Training Programs: Increasing participation of eligible low-income Virginians, especially families with children, in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) while reducing dependency on public assistance by providing workforce training and job opportunities.

  
  


• 
  

  Eligibility Modernization/Technology Improvements: Modernizing social services information technology systems to meet Federal and State requirements for health system reform requirements, enhance family services, automate eligibility determination, provide child support enforcement, support adult care facility licensing, enable data sharing, allow for customer authentication, and use an electronic document management system. Includes modernizing both public assistance and child welfare information systems, and upgrading vital network services to 145 state and local offices across the Commonwealth.

  
  


• 
  

  Access to Health Care: Provide access to high quality health care to Virginians through Medicaid/CHIP,  the Federally-Facilitated Marketplace (FFM), or private insurance.  Ensure that applications are processed timely. Provide continued coverage for eligible Virginians already enrolled in Medicaid through automation, improvements, and modernization (AIM) during and after unwinding of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency.

  
  


• Data Analysis and Performance Management: ; Establishing a structured data governance process that uses input from stakeholder communities to address data quality; support Divisions and programs in conducting research and program evaluation  to identify root causes and to inform decision making regarding changes in policy and practice; and enhancing the ability of DSS program staff to access data, conduct analysis, and publish reports through the VDSS Data Academy.

Over the last two and half years, DSS has gone through an extensive restructuring of its IT services, creating a single IT service organization using industry established organizational structures and best practices.  These changes will allow VDSS to perform the operations and maintenance services and do system enhancements without dependence on a third party integrator.  Based on industry research through the support of Gartner and a third-party assessment of DSS systems, VDSS has mapped the journey to replace enterprise legacy systems using a low-code, no code platform technology.  Additionally, VDSS has worked with VITA to establish a suite of cloud-based solutions to serve across the enterprise, integrating program data across programs, analytics, and reusable accelerators (e.g. intake, eligibility, case management) so that all of legacy system replacements will reuse these same cloud-based services, saving time and money. This funding request will allow VDSS staff to leverage the new cloud computing platform that complies with the Commonwealth of Virginia ITRM Policy EA 300-01, Cloud-based Hosting for IT Solutions Policy; this policy requires all Agencies to ensure all new IT solutions proposed for development are cloud-enabled. The Social Services enterprise architecture being used by VDSS staff is depicted below.

VDSS ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE

This enterprise architecture will be used by VDSS staff as the framework for multiple initiatives that have been funded by the General Assembly for modernization.  These major efforts include:

• 
  

  The Next Generation Network: upgrade 145 DSS offices across the Commonwealth from legacy network service to new. More robust network services

  
  


• 
  

  New Enterprise Licensing Application: Migrate legacy adult care/child care licensing system to new platform

  
  


• 
  

  Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System: create new child welfare system to new platform that meets federal requirements

  
  


• 
  

  Mainframe Migration: migrate legacy child support enforcement system to new platform

  
  


• 
  

  CommonHelp: Migrate customer portal to new platform

  
  

In addition, a budget request is being submitted for the FY24-26 budget cycle to replace the legacy Eligibility & Enrollment to the new platform.

The Department’s 2022 Succession Plan highlights three focus areas: 1) Workforce Planning (WFP) critical positions, 2) employees nearing retirement, and 3) executive/leadership positions. VDSS Human Resources identified 258 positions (16% of all positions) as WFP critical. Of these positions, 14% are eligible for retirement in one year, and 22% are eligible for retirement in two to five years. Among the WFP critical positions, 62 (24%) are for executive and leadership positions. Within the next five years, 35% of all WFP critical, leadership, and executive positions will be eligible for retirement.

The identified WFP critical employees and executive employees have a wealth of institutional knowledge, and turnover in these positions could have a negative impact on the Department’s' health and ability to serve the Commonwealth’s citizens.  Other notable workforce risks are the lack of young talent in the Department’s workforce and employees leaving positions early in their tenure for better jobs.

The Action Plan includes:

1. 
   

   Continue to implement and revise as needed Exceptional Recruitment and Retention Incentive Options such as student loan debt repayment, retention bonus, and sign-on bonuses.

   
   


2. 
   

   Successfully pilot the college internship program that provides opportunities for young talent to gain the knowledge, skills, and abilities in social services and professional fields with the longer-term goal of transitioning into employment opportunities within the organization and each year update and make revisions as necessary.

   
   


3. 
   

   Create an employee value proposition and proactive sourcing strategies, including improved veterans and disabled recruitment, to attract new talent.

   
   


4. 
   

   Roll out a revised exit interview survey tool to determine why employees leave the agency.

   
   


5. 
   

   Create a structured onboarding program for new employees in order to engage and retain new talent.

   
   


6. 
   

   Annually update the VDSS Salary Administration Plan to provide the foundation for applying consistent compensation practices that enhance the recruitment and retention of qualified talent to support the agency’s mission.

   
   

Security Concerns: Based on recent events and an increase in threats and workplace violence, VDSS is considering evaluation of current security measures.  Plans are being developed to evaluate physical plant security, methods of access to the building, and preparedness training.

Current Leases: VDSS currently has 29 leases, two of which are for parking. VDSS is considering leasing new space, building, or consolidating offices for six Child Support Enforcement field offices and Home Office.

Home Office Space Planning: Home Office is in the solicitation phase of a potential office relocation of staff within the Wytestone Building. VDSS, in conjunction with DRES, is seeking space to accommodate a more flexible work environment, greater collaboration space, and alignment with the Governor’s telework expectations.

Parking: With growth at Home Office and increased fee structures, and a change in telework methodology, parking has become challenging. Property & Facilities has provided parking access on a temporary basis for teleworking staff, and is now evaluating parking needs as we determine the level of staff returning to the office. Parking will be a major consideration in evaluation of a potential new location.

Increased caseloads: Major challenges for the social services system include handling the fluctuating caseloads and managing workflows for Medical Assistance programs. Primarily due to health care reform and, most recently, the COVID Public Health Emergency (PHE), the volume of applications for Medicaid and FAMIS programs has increased substantially since Virginia expanded Medicaid in January 2019. An estimated 400,000 people were expected to become eligible for coverage under the expanded guidelines, but that number is higher now as a result of the COVID Public Health Emergency (due to widespread job losses and the fact that Medicaid/FAMIS eligibility redeterminations have been paused since early 2020 under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act). By early 2020, about 375,000 people had gained coverage under the expanded eligibility guidelines. By mid-2022, however, that number had grown to more than 671,000 people.

More factors affecting increased Medical Assistance caseloads: Low-income individuals who are pregnant are eligible for Medicaid or FAMIS in every state. The pregnancy-related eligibility guidelines tend to be more generous than the eligibility rules for most other adults; however, in most states, eligibility based on pregnancy only lasts for 60 days after the baby is born. In Virginia, effective July 1, 2022, pregnant individuals eligible for Medicaid or FAMIS will be able to retain that coverage for 12 months following the end of the pregnancy, thus increasing the rolls and workload.

The Commonwealth currently has the largest number of members enrolled within the Medicaid and FAMIS programs in history, covering approximately 2,061,656 recipients as of August 1st, 2022. The implementation of the Virginia Case Management System (VaCMS) has impacted the timeliness and accuracy of delivery of services; however, ongoing health care reform may prove to further strain the ability of our local network/benefits infrastructure to serve adequately. 

Additionally, once the PHE ends, there will be a significant number of overdue Medicaid renewals that will need to be completed within 12-14 months. With each extension of the PHE, the number of overdue renewals grows. Currently, if the PHE ends December 2022, there will be more than 1.7 million overdue renewals that will need to be completed. This volume of work, and limited time allotted by the Federal Government to complete the work, poses a significant risk to the social services system.

Information Systems:  Beginning in 2020, DSS has been undergoing an extensive restructuring of its IT services, creating a single IT service organization using industry established organizational structures and best practices. IT Services has embarked on a radical digital transformation effort, based on industry research and consulting.  This comprehensive transformation seeks to modernize and replace enterprise legacy systems using a low-code application platform (LCAP).  The new platform, being implemented in partnership with VITA,  complies with the Commonwealth of Virginia ITRM Policy EA 300-01, Cloud-based Hosting for IT Solutions Policy which requires all Agencies to ensure all new IT solutions proposed for development are cloud-enabled. The intent of this policy is to minimize in-house development of custom IT solutions and applications and instead leverage cloud solutions. Additionally, VDSS has worked with VITA to establish a suite of supporting cloud-based solutions to serve across the enterprise, integrating program data across programs, analytics, and reusable accelerators (e.g. intake, eligibility, case management) to reuse these functions across all program areas. The transformation entails a people, process, technology approach across the organization.

People: A team of dedicated experts including IT Architects, Software Developers, IT Operators, and Information Security Specialists are trained and certified to provide requested IT services

Process: Every IT initiative requires a strategic approach and industry best practices to ensure consistency. VDSS uses multiple industry standards to provide for best practices

Technology: VDSS uses a standard suite of software tools to create repeatable processes.  This standard suite is documented in an Enterprise Architecture to ensure all IT initiatives support functional and data integration across programs

Funding and legislation: The General Assembly provided funding and legislation to support needed changes to the Virginia foster care system; however, additional funds will be needed to appropriately staff local departments of social services.  To this end, VDSS is completing a workload analysis that maps the business functions of all the services provided by local departments of social services under the supervision of VDSS. This analysis will tell VDSS how many workers are necessary to meet the current caseload.  By combining these data with a market rate study, the Department will have a clear understanding of the necessary investment needed to recruit, train, and retain a workforce capable of meeting statutory demands and service needs.

At the federal level, the passage of the Family First Prevention Services Act will enable the Commonwealth to use of federal funds to 1) provide enhanced support to children and families, and 2) prevent foster care placements through the provision of mental health and substance abuse services, in-home parent skill-based programs, and kinship navigator services.

Virginia Senate Bill 1339, commonly referred to as the Foster Care Omnibus Bill, makes numerous changes to the laws governing the provision of foster care services in Virginia. The General Assembly provided funding for additional staff at the State level to monitor and improve foster care services and to expand foster parent recruitment and support. SB 1339 also provides the Commissioner of Social Services additional authority to intervene when a local agency fails to provide foster care services or acts in a manner that poses a substantial risk to health, safety, and wellbeing of any child in foster care.

Institutional Knowledge: The social services system has an aging workforce and has seen a substantial number of retirements. This is  expected  to continue for the next several years. This loss of experience and institutional knowledge makes succession planning a critical task. In addition, local departments of social services are experiencing high turnover largely due to large workloads and relatively low pay.

The Department of Social Services base budget is comprised of approximately 23% general funds, 43% federal funds, and 34% special funds. In addition to these sources, approximately $250 million per year of local matching funds are expended. These local funds are not appropriated in the state budget.



The federal funds comprise approximately 37 federal grants, including administrative funds for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Medicaid, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Child Care Development Fund (CCDF), Title IV-D Child Support Enforcement, Title IV-E Foster Care and Adoptions, Title IV-B Child Welfare and Family Preservation Services, Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), Community Services Block Grant, AmeriCorps, Refugee/Newcomer Assistance, and the Social Services Block Grant.



Virtually all of the special funds are the result of the collection of child support payments from non-custodial parents and subsequent payment to the custodial parents.

Federal revenue is earned by the agency based on a cost reimbursement basis.  Thus, federal revenue will largely equate to federal expenditures for any given year.

As stated above, the bulk of the $778 million in special revenue (SFY 2023 budget) is generated by child support collections that are in turn paid out to custodial parents.  Thus, as is the case for federal revenue, special fund revenue will largely equal expenditures.

Note:  This agency does not collect fee revenue that is deposited to the general fund.

The following statistics illustrate the breadth of services provided by VDSS and local departments of social services. The client, case, services and expenditure statistics are based on fiscal years 2021-2022 data. The sociodemographic statistics were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 American Community Survey; the food insecurity statistic was calculated using data from the 2016-2018 Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement. The Virginia Employment Commission was the source for the unemployment rate (not seasonally- adjusted) for June 2022; the annual wage for entry level (25th percentile) comes from May 2021 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey findings.

The VDSS customer base continues to increase. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately 8.59 million people lived in Virginia in 2020. Recent population projections from the Weldon Cooper Center indicate that Virginia's population will increase to 9.13 million people by 2030. Virginia's senior population (age 65 years and older) will increase to 1.7 million by 2030. By 2030, the last of the Baby Boomers will reach retirement age, and seniors will comprise nearly one-in-five (18.5%) residents of the state population. These demographic shifts will increase the demand for social services at the state and local levels.

As of May 2022, the state unemployment rate (seasonally adjusted) was 2.5 percent. However, this does not include the number of people who are underemployed (working but seeking more hours) and people who want to work full-time but have stopped looking for work. About 769,000 Virginians, or 9.2  percent of the population, were living below the federal poverty level, according to 2020 SAIPE estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Of the two million family households in Virginia. 6.8 percent are living in poverty; 11.8 percent of households with children are living below the poverty line.

Many more working households are struggling to earn enough to meet basic living necessities. VDSS has adopted a measure of self-sufficiency, developed by the United Way, that takes into account basic living expenses (i.e., food, transportation, housing, child care, health care, taxes) depending on the individual’s county of residence and living arrangements (family type).  In 2018, ALICE households (ALICE: “Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed”) – that is, families who earn “too much to qualify as ‘poor’ but are still unable to cover basic household expenses in the counties they live” (aa defined by an estimated household survival budget) – comprised 29 percent (935,000) of all families in Virginia. When combined with the poverty rate, a total of 39 percent of all households are not earning enough to survive. 

Several factors have increased the demand for social services. Opioid and other substance use continues to increase and place a demand on child welfare services as families ravaged by addiction are torn apart. The COVID-19 Pandemic and Public Health Emergency slowed any economic gains that the U.S. and Virginia made between 2015 and 2019 as unemployment surged during 2020 and inflation followed in 2021-2022.  Despite increases in hourly wages, Americans, including Virginians, are having difficulty keeping up with higher prices for fuel and other goods.  More families are experiencing economic hardship and emotional stress. These factors have most likely contributed to an increased need for public assistance and child welfare services.

With a mission to help families triumph over poverty, abuse, and neglect, VDSS’s most widely used services include social safety net programs (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, energy and cooling assistance), Medicaid and FAMIS eligibility determination, child support collection, foster care and adoption services, child protective services, subsidized child care, improving the quality of child care, licensure of child and adult care facilities, workforce development services, refugee services, and prevention services including home visiting, nutrition education, and financial literacy.

Combined, at least two million Virginians received SNAP (formerly the Food Stamp Program), TANF, and/or Medicaid/FAMIS benefits during state fiscal year 2021. The majority of these participants are SNAP and Medicaid recipients. Approximately 26,000 children received child care subsidies through VDSS during SFY 2021. In June 2022, Child Support Enforcement served nearly 269,000 families, comprised of 331,000 children and 427,000 parents (custodial and non-custodial).

Most of these services are administered by 120 local departments of social services, which VDSS supervises. VDSS also partners extensively with community-based organizations and volunteers, local government entities, other state agencies, including the Department of Medical Assistance Services, and healthcare providers. An increasing number of services, such as benefit program applications and Medicaid enrollment, are conducted electronically through its customer web portal, CommonHelp. This facilitates public access to services, reduces wait time and processing errors, and allows greater access to data for program staff.

VDSS has four key measures and one productivity measure, discussed in turn.

• TANF Work Participation:Up until March 2020, when the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) went into effect, VDSS and the local departments continually met the federal work requirement target (adjusted for caseload reduction) each year since 1997. The TANF Work Participation Rate was hovering at or above 40%. The latest rate for the quarter prior to the PHE (October- December 2019) was 39%. After the start of the PHE, employment rates plummeted and the TANF employment and training program waived work requirements for enrollees during the public health emergency period. Consequently, the TANF work participation rate declined significantly. Until the time the PHE order is rescinded, we expect to see work participation rates remain low.. As of the last quarter of SFY 2022 (June 2022), the work participation rate was 9%.


• Child Support Collection:  VDSS operates one of the most successful and productive child support systems among the 50 states. Child support collections have been meeting the 65% target up until the end of fiscal year 2020. Soon after the start of the PHE (in March 2020), the percentage has slipped a few percentage points below the target and is at 62% for the quarter ending March 2022.


• Exit to Permanency: VDSS and local departments strive toward meeting the target (86%) for the percentage of children in foster care who exit from care to permanent living arrangements (i.e., reunification with biological family, transfer of custody to other relatives, adoption). Up until fiscal year 2014, the rate has been at or below 75%.The permanency rate improved to at least 80% for four straight quarters in calendar year 2018 and again into FY 2021. As of the quarter ending June 2022, the rate was close to 78%.


• Child Support Cost Effectiveness Rate: VDSS continues to operate one of the most cost effective child support systems in the U.S. and has met and far exceeded its federal incentive target of $5 collected per $1 spent on administration. Its stretch target has been at or above $7.05, which the Child Support Enforcement program has achieved in at least quarters during federal fiscal years 2020-2021. For the most recent quarter ending in June 2022, the rate was $6.73.


• SNAP Participation Rate:VDSS and local departments continue to provide SNAP benefits to the income-eligible population (i.e.,people   with annual household incomes below 130% of the Federal poverty threshold). The SNAP Participation Rate has remained at or above 70 percent since 2009, reaching a high of 84% in 2013. The latest federal report (published in 2021) indicates that Virginia's SNAP participation rate was 72% for 2018.

By having children in foster care safely return to their biological families or live in other safe and stable family-based environments (kinship placements, adoptive homes) and having fewer children live in congregate care, the goal is to improve children’s quality of life and childhood experience, their development, and later adult outcomes. Children will achieve a higher level of emotional, physical, and mental well-being. This goal also addresses minimizing disruption for children in foster care by reducing the time in care and number of placements.

This refers to the percentage of foster care children who are placed in family-type environments while in foster care. This includes placement with other relatives, foster care families, and adoptive families. This excludes placement in institutional or congregate care settings (e.g., residential child homes). This aligns with our goal of promoting safe and stable living situations for children in foster care. Since these settings are more stable for the child, this will result in fewer and/or disruptive placements and improved outcomes for the child.

• Utilize Diligent Recruitment, Extreme Recruitment, and general recruitment strategies to recruit more families to foster and adopt.

• Refer foster care children eligible for adoption for services under the Adoption Through Collaborative Partnerships (ATCP) grant.

• Focus on extended family members and paternal relatives ("kin") as permanency options. Encourage engagement of children with extended family members.

• Utilize the Kinship Guardianship Assistance Program (KinGAP) and implement the State-funded kinship subsidy program to provide an additional permanency option for youth to remain supported in a kinship foster home after they are discharged from foster care.

• Implement and enforce Concurrent Planning practices in local departments.

• Fully implement new Kinship Foster Family guidance including use of an 'Exception Report' when kinship care is not utilized.

• Implement the Faster Families Highway statewide to coordinate foster parent recruitment efforts and improve follow through for approvals of families who are equipped to meet the needs of children in care.

• Collaborate with Licensed Child Placing Agencies (LCPAs) and DBHDS to increase the capacity of therapeutic and specialized homes which can meet the needs of high-acuity children outside of a congregate care facility.

• Collaborate with Virginia Kids Belong and LCPA contracts to identify adoptive homes for children with acute needs and eligible for adoption.

• Family Partnership Meetings (FPMs) will be used to identify and support relative and kin involvement in permanency planning for children in foster care.

This objective refers to the percentage of children leaving foster care who exit to permanent living arrangements, including reunification with their families, transfer of custody to other relatives, and adoption. By increasing permanency, this aligns with our goal of having children live in safe and stable family environments that are optimal for the child's well-being.

• Continue marketing campaign and outreach to raise awareness about the need for more foster and adoptive parents.

• Implement and enforce Concurrent Planning practices in local departments.

• Focus on extended family members and paternal relatives ("kin") as permanency options. Encourage engagement of children with extended family members.

• Utilize the Kinship Guardianship Assistance Program (KinGAP) and implement the State-funded kinship subsidy program to provide an additional permanency option for youth to remain supported in a kinship foster home after they are discharged from foster care.

• Refer foster care children eligible for adoption for services under the Adoption Through Collaborative Partnerships (ATCP) grant.

• Utilize Diligent Recruitment, Extreme Recruitment, and general recruitment strategies to recruit more families to foster and adopt.

• Implement a new recruitment strategy using technology-based software to match waiting children with Virginia families.

• Family Partnership Meetings (FPMs) will be used to identify and support relative and kin involvement in permanency planning for children in foster care.

• Collaborate with Virginia Kids Belong and LCPA contracts to identify adoptive homes for children with acute needs and eligible for adoption.

By providing prevention and intervention services to at-risk families and caretakers, VDSS ensures that children and other vulnerable individuals are protected from abuse, neglect, maltreatment, and exploitation and live a life of dignity.

This objective refers to the percentage of child day care and residential care facilities that are compliant with safety and quality standards. This aligns with our goal of protecting children from possible abuse, neglect and maltreatment occurring in such facilities by reducing risk.

• Conduct timely safety inspections and employee background checks for day care and residential facilities for adults and children.

• Strengthen regulations to require all assisted living facilities and child care providers to complete DSS-mandated training on preventing or limiting the spread of infectious diseases, injuries, and fatalities.

• Provide the enhanced technology, tools, processes and training to ensure our licensing inspectors are equipped to conduct all types of inspections for children’s and adults’ facilities.

This objective refers to the reduction in the number of new and recurrent cases of child abuse, neglect and maltreatment. This aligns with our goal of protecting children from abuse, neglect and maltreatment through prevention and intervention services.

• Improve child protective services workers’ abilities to conduct service needs assessments and develop relevant service plans.

• Enhance child protective services workers’ abilities to help develop plans of safe care for substance-exposed infants and their caregivers/families.

• Provide outreach and educational materials to mandated reporters, particularly healthcare providers, as well as the general public with regard to responding to substance-exposed infants and their caregivers/families.

• Evaluate opportunities to enhance system coordination to support the identification of and care for substance-exposed infants and their caretakers/families.

• Examine risk and protective factors associated with child abuse-related deaths, including unsafe sleep-related deaths.

• Enhance the understanding of Child Protective Services workers of the co-occurrence of domestic violence and maltreatment.

• Provide educational and public awareness materials to mandated reporters and the general public about preventing child abuse and neglect

• Provide enhanced support to children and families through the provision of mental health and substance abuse prevention and treatment services, in-home parent skill-based programs, and kinship navigator services.

• Work with partners to develop or expand primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention models such as home visiting, functional family therapy, and multi-systemic therapy.

• Develop and implement criteria and protocols for assessing and prioritizing clients based on need, vulnerability, risk, and cumulative harm.

• Develop models and build a comprehensive plan to roll out a whole family intake and case management approach for child support offices, licensed facilities, local departments, community action agencies, contractors, and other stakeholders.

• Foster multi-organization collaboration to supplement existing place-based initiatives to improve child outcomes and help parents achieve financial stability.

By assisting Virginia families and individuals through educational, employment and health opportunities, we are increasing their ability to become economically self-sufficient and to climb out of poverty. This goal aligns with the VDSS Strategic Framework, specifically, the goal to create and connect pathways to economic stability. . This goal is to ensure that families and individuals receiving public assistance (e.g., TANF, SNAP, child care subsidies) acquire workforce development, training and resources that meet the demands of employers and achieve gainful employment for the recipient.

This objective refers to the percentage of low income families and individuals receiving public assistance through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program and the work and training component of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP-ET) who achieve employment after exiting the programs. This aligns with our goal of helping families and individuals achieve economic stability and mobility workshops, trainings, and job search, job placement, and job enhancement services.

• Develop and deploy a comprehensive living wage plan for adults served by the social services system that includes a whole family barrier assessment, skills and credential attainment, education, and job-specific training.

• Partner with the Virginia Employment Commissioner, the Virginia Community College System, and other workforce development organizations (e.g., regional Workforce Investment Boards, Virginia Career Works centers) on creating pathways to employment through job-specific training and credentialing.

• Improve employer outreach to create more opportunities for program participants. For example, leverage subsidized employment, the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, and other public funding to provide incentives for employers to hire social services system participants

• Identify and deploy sectoral training programs that ensure higher income but often require higher levels of skills to participate.

• Explore adjustments to social services benefit policies and seek waivers to promote a living wage.

• Foster multi-organization collaboration to supplement existing place-based initiatives to improve child outcomes and help parents achieve financial stability.

• Implement a program alignment process for the VIEW and SNAP ET programs to simplify program implementation for staff and improve service delivery for participants.

This objective refers to the percentage of vulnerable Virginians who receive home energy assistance. By "vulnerable", we mean low income families and individuals, with a focus on the elderly, children, and people with disabilities. By providing home energy assistance, especially for the most vulnerable populations (low income, elderly, families with children, individuals with disabilities), we are reducing their economic burden and helping them to become self-sufficient.

• Expand program awareness by targeting outreach efforts to agencies and organizations that serve vulnerable individuals

This objective refers to the Department's efficiency in processing applications for public assistance within the required time limits. This aligns with our goal of helping families and individuals meet their basic needs in a timely manner and eventually achieve economic self-sufficiency.

• Promote use of the on-line public assistance application system (CommonHelp).

• Simplify application processing procedures.

• Develop models and build a comprehensive plan to roll out a whole family intake and case management approach for child support offices, licensed facilities, local departments, community action agencies, contractors, and other stakeholders.

This objective refers to an increase in child support payments that non-custodial parents are obligated to pay. This aligns with our goal of helping families to live a life of dignity. VDSS ensures that the income of single-parent households is supplemented with child support payments that they need to effectively meet the needs of children. Furthermore, we are helping non-custodial parents to become more involved in their children's lives socially as well as financially. As a result, outcomes for children and families will improve.

• Establish and maintain realistic child support orders based on non-custodial parents' actual ability to pay.

• Provide services, information, and referrals to address parents’ ability to obtain and maintain stable employment.

• Improve non-custodial parents’ employability and income through targeted training and capacity building programs.

• Continue implementation of case management strategies to focus resources and effort on cases most likely to produce payment and to reduce the accumulation of unpaid child support debt.

• Ensure applicants for service receive prompt establishment of paternity and child support orders to facilitate financial stability for families.

• Develop models and build a comprehensive plan to roll out a whole family intake and case management approach for child support offices, licensed facilities, local departments, community action agencies, contractors, and other stakeholders.

• Foster multi-organization collaboration to supplement existing place-based initiatives to improve child outcomes and help parents achieve financial stability.

This goal refers to improving low-income families' ability to prevent hunger and improve their access to proper nutrition.

This objective refers to increasing the number of income-eligible individuals who enroll in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. This aligns with our goal of improving access to food security and nutrition while improving the health and nutrition of low-income households, including children.

• Increase SNAP Participation Rate through expanded and/or targeted outreach and churn reduction.

• Expand the use of food security screening tools to proactively identify and provide support to food insecure households.

• Increase the availability of income support programs for struggling families.

• Increase participation in existing food security programs (e.g., Summer Food Service Program) through community-based outreach and partner referrals.

• Develop models and build a comprehensive plan to roll out a whole family intake and case management approach for child support offices, licensed facilities, local departments, community action agencies, contractors, and other stakeholders.

This goal refers to increasing access to higher quality early education for children in low-income households who apply for child care subsidies.

This objective refers to increasing the number of children receiving child care subsidies who are enrolled in licensed care day care facilities of the total universe of children receiving child care subsidies.

• Include subsidy overview in pre-licensure orientation for early care and education providers.

• Expand consumer education materials and information to identify the benefits of child care licensure.

The Training and Assistance to Local Staff service area is responsible for establishing an effective infrastructure to: 1) support a comprehensive training delivery system and 2) develop a fully trained and skilled workforce capable of administering programs in accordance with established laws, regulations and policies.

By operating an effective training delivery and learning management system, we become a high-performing workforce engaged in continuous education and ensure our ability to accomplish the agency's mission.  A skilled workforce, fully trained in a timely manner, enables local departments to successfully administer the programs to meet the needs of our customers and accomplish the agency's mission.

In 2020, the Division of Local Training and Development was created to standardize, innovate, and find efficiencies in the delivery of training to the 120 local departments of social services, coalescing training efforts and functions under one professional organization.  In relation to program-specific (Family Services, Child Care and Benefit Programs) and non-program specific (e.g.,Excellence in Leadership Program for Local Executives, Managers and Supervisors; the local DSS Leadership Orientation; Human Resources and Local Board Member Training) areas, the following support services and products exist:

• Development of quality curricula and design of eLearning modules that support federal guidelines and state policy


• Delivery of quality training programs with qualified instructors


• Monitoring and evaluation of training programs


• Development and monitoring of the contractual terms and conditions for vendors


• Administration of the Commonwealth of Virginia Learning Center, or COVLC (formerly known as the Knowledge Center), or similar learning management system/training platform

Funding for the Training program comes from general funds and federal funds. The federal funds come from various sources, including Title IV-E Foster Care, the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Child Care and Development Fund, Medicaid, and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Block Grant.

This service area supports the supervision of Virginia’s safety net programs including the Commonwealth’s largest nutrition assistance program,   the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP; formerly known as the Food Stamp Program); financial assistance programs including the Energy Assistance Program, the General Relief Program, and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program (TANF); and the eligibility services for medical assistance programs (FAMIS, Medicaid). This service area also supports the supervision of two of the Commonwealth’s largest workforce programs: the Virginia Initiative for Employment not Welfare (VIEW) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Employment and Training (SNAPET).

The functions supported by this service area include guidance development, program development, legislative and regulatory analysis, business process reengineering, policy and information systems training, dissemination of best practices, contracting, budgeting and monitoring, and technical assistance to the local departments of social services which implement these programs. Benefit Programs is also responsible for the out-stationed eligibility staff for medical services. These staff persons are stationed in various state mental health hospitals throughout the Commonwealth. This endeavor significantly impacts operations at local departments of social services.

This service area supports the mission of the Department through the supervision of programs that help individuals meet their basic human needs and move toward self-sufficiency through employment. These financial, nutrition, medical, and workforce services help individuals move out of poverty, foster the realization of self-sufficiency and build strong families and communities.

• Support of local departments of social services and organizations serving individuals, families and communities


• Supervision, oversight, and monitoring of social services program administration and performance

Funding for the service area comes from federal and state sources. Support at the state level for Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a combination of state and federal funds. Administrative costs for the Energy Assistance Program are 100% federally funded by the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) block grant and limited to 3% of the grant by state regulation. Funding for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) activities is a combination of TANF block grant and state maintenance of effort (MOE) funding. State and local funds finance the activities of the smaller programs (General Relief, State and Local Hospitalization) in the service area. 

The Division of Family Services is composed of units dedicated to children and families: Prevention/Family Preservation; Child Protective Services; ICPC/ICAMA (Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children/Interstate Compact on Adoption and Medical Assistance); Resource Families; Permanency (Foster Care including services for older youth); Adoption; Training, Quality Assurance and Accountability; and Continuous Quality Improvement. Family Services balances the roles of providing effective intervention, when necessary, and emphasizing personal responsibility while ensuring the safety, stability, permanency, and well-being for the most vulnerable of the population of Virginia. The programs of the Department of Social Services are state supervised and locally administered. Programs operated at the local level include: Prevention/Family Preservation, Child Protective Services, Permanency (Foster Care including services for older youth), and Adoption. State administered services include the Central Registry, Interstate Placements, Adoption Record Retention and Adoption Disclosures. This service area focuses on state supervision and support of these activities.

This service area supports the mission of the Department by promoting safety, permanency, and well-being for children, families and individuals in the Commonwealth.

• Support of local departments of social services and organizations serving individuals, families and communities


• Financial support for children


• Title IV-E technical assistance


• CFSR case reviews


• Contract management

Funding for Protective Services Programs Administration comes from general funds and federal funds. The federal funds come from various sources including Title IV-B Part I (Child Welfare Services), Title IV-E Foster Care/Adoption Assistance, and the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG).

This service area is comprised of a number of federal and state programs that support community operated organizations and initiatives. The majority of funding is used to provide oversight including administering contracts, monitoring and providing technical assistance to community based organizations and initiatives.

This service area supports the mission of the Department by providing resources and technical assistance to community based organizations and initiatives that provide direct services to citizens as they strive to overcome poverty and enhance their opportunities for the future. Consistent with Federal regulations and Uniform Guidance, 2 CFR Part 200 and 45 CFR Part 96, activities in this service area seek to reduce the risk of misuse and waste of Federal funds through appropriate technical assistance and monitoring.

Funding for Community and Volunteer Services Administration comes from federal and general funds. Federal funds come from various grant sources, including the Social Services Block Grant Program (SSBG), CSBG, Refugee Assistance, and AmeriCorps.

This service area supports Child Care & Early Childhood Development and its supervision and oversight of the statewide child care subsidy program, in addition to quality enhancement of child care services in Virginia. These activities promote increased access to child care resources for parents and providers, support efficient and effective program and fiscal operations, and assure compliance with program guidelines and procedures.

By improving access to child care and the quality of early childhood and child care services, VDSS helps families access and maintain stable care for their children while they work or complete educational programs. These activities promote stable and economically independent families and strong communities through effective and efficient division program activities.

Funding for central administration and quality assurance for child care activities comes from general funds and non-general funds. The non-general funds come primarily from the Child Care Development Fund - Discretionary and Matching awards.

This service area funds the cash assistance payments made to families with extremely low or no income as part of one of the Commonwealth’s key safety net programs, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program. To be eligible for the program, a family must include a dependent child and have income less than $11,592 per year for a family of three. Unless exempt, recipients are required to participate in a work activity (including employment) as a condition of their continued eligibility. A recipient will only be allowed to receive more than 60 months of  TANF cash assistance during his/her lifetime if the individual becomes disabled or required to care for a disabled family member who is living with the family. The average payment is $427 per month.

By assisting needy families, the TANF cash assistance payments help individuals triumph over poverty and shape strong futures for themselves, their families and communities. The TANF program enables the Commonwealth’s most vulnerable and needy families to meet their basic human needs, strengthen the family unit, and begin to rebuild their lives.

• COV §§ 63.2-600 et seq. -- Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program


• 22 VAC 40-295 - Temporary Assistance for Needy Families

Economic and financial assistance to low income families with children.

TANF cash assistance payments are funded by a combination of federal and general funds. The federal funds come from the State Family Assistance Grant, commonly referred to as the TANF Block Grant.

This service area is responsible for workforce services provided to current and former TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) program participants. The Virginia Initiative for Education and Work (VIEW) program is a workforce program operated by local departments of social services and provides services to individuals receiving TANF cash assistance payments or who have recently exited the TANF program for employment. The primary goal is to enact proven service approaches and strategies that help current and former TANF clients prepare to enter, succeed, and advance in the workplace. VIEW offers a wide range of workforce services including job readiness classes, job search assistance, vocational education, job skills training, community work experience placements, unsubsidized employment, and subsidized employment. VIEW also offers supportive services such as child care, transportation, and purchases of work-related items like uniforms.  In addition to VIEW, the Department contracts with public and private entities to provide job retention and wage advancement services to hard-to-serve TANF participants and those who have exited the TANF program. Services are procured through a competitive process and funding is contingent upon performance.

By helping individuals gain skills and find employment, the Virginia Initiative for Education and Work (VIEW) program assists low-income families in overcoming poverty and building strong futures for themselves, their families, and their communities.

• COV §63.2-608 - Virginia Initiative for Education and Work (VIEW) 


• 22 VAC 40-35 - Virginia Independence Program

Workforce services that promote self-sufficiency for low income individuals.

This service area consists of the Virginia Initiative for Education and Work (VIEW) program and the TANF Employment Advancement Grants. The TANF Employment Advancement Grant began December 1, 2004 and is funded using 100 percent federal TANF funds. VIEW funding is a mixture of federal funds and state funds.

This service area is responsible for the implementation of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Employment and Training (SNAPET), which provides workforce services to individuals participating in the Commonwealth’s largest nutrition assistance program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), in certain localities. Workforce services provided by the SNAPET program include job readiness classes, job search assistance, education, vocational training, work experience and job retention services. These services are offered to participants to assist them in attaining unsubsidized employment and in attaining or moving towards self-sufficiency.

By helping individuals gain skills and find employment, the SNAPET program assists low-income families in overcoming poverty and building strong futures for themselves, their families, and their communities.

• Food and Nutrition Act of 2008


• 7 CFR 273.7 – Food and Nutrition Service: Work provisions

Workforce services that promote self-sufficiency including: job search, job readiness, work experience, education and vocational training.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Employment and Training (SNAPET) is 100% federally funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to cover administration and, with the exception of supportive services, most services to participants. The purchase of supportive services including transportation is supported by 50/50 federal funds used to match state and local dollars. Such funds provide for supportive services funds and an e-learning program that can help participants with educational deficiencies.

This service area provides child care assistance to families receiving TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) benefits and who are working or engaged in work-related activities. Transitional Child Care assistance is also provided to eligible post-TANF families who are working. Child care subsidies are provided through the local departments of social services.

By providing payment for child care to TANF families, this service area helps them become more self-sufficient and to shape strong futures for themselves and their children through work or approved education/training leading to employment.  Children benefit as a result of care in healthy, safe, and quality environments.

Payments for child care of VIEW (Virginia Initiative for Employment not Welfare) and TANF participants engaged in work or work-related activities.

Funding for the TANF Child Care program comes from general and federal funds. The federal funds are from the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) - Mandatory and Matching funds.

This service area provides child care assistance to 1) families not receiving TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) benefits who are working or engaged in an approved educational or training program and are at risk of becoming dependent on TANF, and 2) TANF families who are not working but are participating in an approved education or training program leading to employment. Child care subsidies are provided through the local departments of social services. Quality enhancement activities and Head Start Wrap-Around child care services are also included within this service area.

By assisting low income families who are at risk of becoming dependent on TANF with child care assistance, this service area helps families access and maintain stable child care while they work or participate in education or training programs, thus helping them become more self-sufficient, shape strong futures for themselves and their families, and contribute toward their communities through work. By improving the quality of child care services and programs, VDSS supports the health, safety, and development of participating children. These activities help to promote stable and economically independent families and strong communities.

• Child care subsidy payments and assistance for at-risk families


• Child care provider training and technical assistance


• Child care provider scholarships


• Child care quality rating and improvement services


• Child care resource and referral services

Funding for the Non-TANF Day Care program comes from general funds and federal funds. The federal funds come from the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) – Discretionary, Mandatory and Matching funds.

The Unemployed Parents (UP) Cash Assistance service area is temporary assistance provided to needy families with children in which two able-bodied parents are present. As with the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, TANF UP provides temporary cash assistance to enable two-parent families with children to become self-supporting. UP recipients also participate in the Virginia Initiative for Education and Work  (VIEW).

By helping individuals gain skills and find employment, the Unemployed Parents Cash Assistance, or TANF UP program, assists low-income families in overcoming poverty and building strong futures for themselves and their families.

• COV §63.2-602 -- Eligibility for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF); penalty


• 22 VAC 40-295 - Temporary Assistance for Needy Families

Temporary cash assistance to needy families that include two parents.

This service is supported entirely by General Funds.

For a detailed "Description of this Program/Service Area", refer to Service Area Plan 46010 (Local Staff and Operations).

For a detailed description of the "Mission Alignment", refer to Service Area Plan 46010 - Local Staff and Operations.

• Eligibility determinations for economic assistance, health care and nutrition assistance


• Economic assistance to low income families/individuals

For a detailed "Financial Overview and Biennial Budget", refer to Service Area Plan 46010 - Local Staff and Operations.

For a detailed "Description of this Program/Service Area", refer to Service Area Plan 46010 (Local Staff and Operations).

For a detailed description of the "Mission Alignment", refer to Service Area Plan 46010 - Local Staff and Operations.

For a detailed description of "Major Products and Services", refer to Service Area Plan 46010 - Local Staff and Operations.

For a detailed "Financial Overview and Biennial Budget", refer to Service Area Plan 46010 - Local Staff and Operations.

This service area funds the eligibility determination of Virginia’s safety net (benefit) programs and administration of program services for adults, children and families. Eligibility determination and service program administration are conducted by 120 local departments of social services at 150 physical locations throughout the Commonwealth. The benefit and services programs of the Department of Social Services are state-supervised and locally-administered. The local departments of social services balance the roles of providing effective intervention and emphasizing personal responsibility while ensuring safety, stability, permanency and well-being for the most vulnerable of the Commonwealth's population. The benefit and services programs are designed to address those who are most in need.

The Benefit programs are: the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which is the Commonwealth's largest nutrition assistance program; financial assistance programs including the Energy Assistance Program, the General Relief Program, Child Care Subsidy, and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program (TANF); and medical assistance programs (FAMIS, Medicaid, and the low-income subsidy for the Medicare prescription drug plans).

The Family Services programs include: Adoptions, Child Protective Services, Resource Family Recruitment, Family Search & Engagement, Prevention Services, Foster Care, Family Preservation, Independent Living for Foster Care Youth, International Adoptions, Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children, and Promoting Safe and Stable Families. Some generic services to meet or provide referrals for basic needs such as food, shelter and clothing are also offered.

This service area supports the mission of the Department through the administration of programs that:

• Help individuals meet their basic human needs. These financial, nutrition, and medical services help individuals move out of poverty and build strong families and communities. Often, this service area is the first point of contact for the individual/family in the social services system, and the financial assistance provided by the service area stabilizes the family, enabling them to pursue additional services targeted at improving their financial status and overcoming poverty.


• Promote the safety, permanency, and well-being for the children, families, individuals, and communities in the Commonwealth.

Funds are used to reimburse local social services agencies for Benefit Programs Specialists and social workers (staffing) and allowable local costs incurred in administering the public assistance and child welfare programs (operations). In Benefit Programs, Benefit Programs Specialists interview applicants to determine if they qualify for public assistance benefits, which include but are not limited to: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP),  Child Care Subsidy and Medicaid. Family Services workers deliver program services which include but are not limited to: child and adult protective services complaint investigations; foster care and adoption services; and adult services. Included in the latter are CPS assessments and investigations in response to all reports of children born exposed to controlled substances when the mother sought or received substance abuse counseling or treatment.

Funding for Benefit Programs comes from a combination of federal, state and local funds. The Code of Virginia §63.2-400 specifies that no less than 50 percent of the funding necessary to administer public assistance programs shall come from federal and state funds. The federal funds come from various federal grant sources including SNAP, Medicaid, TANF, Child Care Subsidy and Title IV-E Foster Care. This base appropriation includes federal funds for local administration pass through and local service cost allocation expenditures as well as $1,500,000 (fund 0911) to support the Fraud program.

Funding for Family Services comes from general funds and federal funds. The federal fund percentages are based on cost allocation. Federal funding sources include the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG), Community Based Child Abuse Prevention (CBCAP), Title IV-E Foster Care and Adoptions, TANF, Title IV-B, Promoting Safe and Stable Families and Child Welfare Services grants.

This service area provides administrative funds necessary to administer the child support enforcement program, in keeping with federal and state laws and regulations and in order to meet the five federally set program performance measures: (1) Percentage of cases with Support Obligations established; (2) Percentage of Current Support collected; (3) Percentage of cases with an arrears collection; (4) Percent of children with paternity established, and (5) Cost Effectiveness of the program.

This service area promotes strong, self-reliant families by delivering child support services, as provided by law, through the location of noncustodial parents, establishment of paternity and support orders, enforcement of orders, and collection and distribution of child support. Services are being expanded to broaden support of previously incarcerated persons reentering society, responsible fatherhood, healthy co-parenting relationships, and family engagement.

Financial support for children through collection of administratively or judicially ordered child support payments. Services include: location of non-custodial parents; establishment of paternity and support orders; enforcement of support and health care coverage orders; and collection and distribution of child support.

Funding for the Support Enforcement and Collections Services program comes from federal funds and special funds. The source of the federal funds is the Title IV-D Child Support Enforcement grant.

This service area provides funds for partial distribution of child support payments, if collected, to DCSE customers who are also receiving TANF and have assigned their support payment rights to the state during the period of public assistance.  Partial distribution is the federally authorized, and the federal share of these collections, which may otherwise be retained as cost recovery, is waived.

This service area promotes strong, self-reliant families by delivering child support services, as provided by law through the location of noncustodial parents, establishment of paternity and orders, enforcement of orders, and collection and distribution of child support. Partial distribution of child support payments to custodial parents receiving TANF benefits provides vital additional financial resources to families in their efforts to become independent of public assistance.

Collection of child support payments to partially fund the child support program and provision of other services for recipients of public assistance (TANF). Services include: location of non-custodial parents; establishment of paternity and support orders; enforcement of support and health care coverage orders; and collection and distribution of child support.

Funding for the Collection of Public Assistance Child Support Payments comes from federal funds and special funds. The source of the federal funds is the Title IV-D Child Support Enforcement grant.

This service area provides administrative funds necessary to administer the child support enforcement program, in keeping with federal and state laws and regulations and in order to meet the five federally set program performance measures: (1) Percentage of cases with Support Obligations established; (2) Percentage of Current Support collected; (3) Percentage of cases with an arrears collection; (4) Percent of children with paternity established, and (5) Cost Effectiveness of the program.

This service area promotes strong, self-reliant families by delivering child support services, as provided by law, through the location of noncustodial parents, establishment of paternity and support orders, enforcement of orders, and collection and distribution of child support. Services are being expanded to broaden support of previously incarcerated persons reentering society, responsible fatherhood, healthy co-parenting relationships, and family engagement. Through Family Engagement, the Division helps parents overcome obstacles to provide consistent financial support for their children.

Collection and disbursement of administratively or judicially ordered child support payments to provide financial support for families who are not on public assistance. Services include: location of non-custodial parents; establishment of paternity and support orders; enforcement of support and health care coverage orders; and collection and distribution of child support.

Funding for the Collection of Non Public Assistance Child Support Payments comes from federal funds and special funds. The source of the federal funds is the Title IV-D Child Support Enforcement grant.

An Auxiliary Grant (AG) is a payment that supplements the income of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients and certain other aged, blind, or disabled individuals residing in an assisted living facility (ALF) licensed by the Virginia Department of Social Services (VDSS), an adult foster care (AFC) home approved by a local department of social services, and supportive housing (SH) setting approved by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. This assistance is available through local departments of social services to ensure that AG recipients are able to maintain a standard of living that meets a basic level of need.

The Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services (DARS) administers Virginia’s AG program. Individuals must be assessed by the local department of social services to determine their financial eligibility for an AG. Individuals must also be assessed by a qualified assessor to determine the level of care needed. Local departments of social services make payments directly to individuals who are eligible for AG. The General Assembly establishes a maximum monthly rate that an ALF, AFC or SH provider may receive. The AG payment is computed by adding the personal needs allowance (PNA) to the established rate and then subtracting the individual’s countable income. The remainder is the individual’s AG payment. Not all ALFs accept individuals receiving Auxiliary Grants.

By providing aged, blind and disabled individuals the resources to live in ALFs, AFC homes, and SH, the AG Program helps people to triumph over poverty, abuse and neglect and aligns with goals of the VDSS Strategic Plan.

• Services to strengthen families


• Services to protect vulnerable adults


• Economic assistance to low income families/individuals, health care eligibility determination


• Assessments for Assisted Living, Adult Foster Care placements, and Supportive Housing; annual re-assessments

The appropriation for Auxiliary Grants for the Aged, Blind, and Disabled is 80% general funds. A 20% local match is required (Note: Local funds are not appropriated in the state budget).

This service area prioritizes efforts to protect older and incapacitated adults from abuse, neglect, and exploitation. This area also provides services to support independence and self-determination and to avoid or delay placement in restrictive and costly institutional care.

By reducing and preventing abuse, neglect and exploitation of vulnerable adults, VDSS helps people to triumph over poverty, abuse and neglect and to build strong and caring families and communities. This service area aligns with Goal 1 of the VDSS Strategic Plan.

• Services to protect older and incapacitated adults from maltreatment


• Services to prevent adult abuse, neglect and exploitation


• Home-based services to avoid or delay institutionalization of adults


• Referrals for nutrition, health care eligibility, and financial assistance to low income families/individuals


• Services that promote self-sufficiency and independence


• Case management and provision of services


• Information and analysis of data from PeerPlace, the APS case management system


• Annual APS Division report of statistical and program information


• Public education, training and awareness materials (brochures, training materials, videos)


• Support of partner organizations serving communities


• Collaboration with state and local agencies and partners

Funding for Adult Services comes from federal funds (80%). However, a 20% local match is required by localities. The federal funds come from the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG). The financial breakdown below does not include support from Adult Protective Services.

The Office of Family Violence works to fund the provision of crisis and support services to victims of domestic violence and their children across the Commonwealth. Federal and state funds support direct services to families, primary prevention initiatives, statewide data collection, and training and technical assistance to local service providers.

Addressing the needs of victims and children affected by domestic violence is closely aligned with the mission of the Department of Social Services and maximizes the safety and stability of families and individuals.

Grant funding for:

• Emergency shelter for victims of domestic violence and their children Crisis intervention, advocacy and support groups for victims 


• Children’s advocacy, counseling and safety planning


• Community education 


• Primary Prevention initiatives Services that protect adults and children


• Services that promote sufficiency and safe, healthy relationships

Statewide contracts for:

• Training and technical assistance for local service providers 


• Data collection

Office of Family Violence administration:

• Contract monitoring and fiscal oversight 


• Program evaluation


• Policy development and training

Funding for Domestic Violence Services comes from general funds and federal funds. The federal funds come from Social Services Block Grant (SSBG), Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), and Family Violence and Prevention Services grants. Three separate federal ARPA grants were received and will be awarded in FY23.

The Permanency Program’s Foster Care service components include Family Preservation and Support Services, Foster Care Services, and Independent Living Services. All service components are focused on safety, well-being and permanency for children by maintaining them in their families whenever possible; reuniting children with their families or establishing other permanent family connections. As of July 1, 2016, foster care is extended on a voluntary basis to the age of 21 for the purposes of assisting youth in foster care to successfully transition to adulthood. Independent living services for all older youth (14-23), regardless of their permanency goal, builds self-sufficiency and an increased opportunity for success as they enter adulthood.

The focus of Family Preservation and Support Services is to provide services and interventions to maintain and strengthen the family unit while ensuring the safety of the child. These children and families are those in which intervention is needed to prevent out-of-home and/or out-of community placement of a child as well as support the goal of reunification.

Foster Care services provide temporary living solutions for children who must be removed from their birth or adoptive parents or other legal caretakers because of abuse and/or neglect or are determined to be in need of out-of-home services. Foster care's primary mandate is to find a permanent home for each child in as timely a manner as possible. Permanent placements include: return to parent or previous legal custodian, placement with relatives with subsequent transfer of custody (with or without kinship guardianship assistance or state kinship subsidy), and adoption. Other foster care goals include permanent foster care or another planned permanent living arrangement for youth 16 and older.

VDSS and local departments design and implement programs for children age 14 and older, providing targeted services to develop and enhance independent living skills to increase successful transitions to adulthood. While providing such skill-based services to older youth, a strong emphasis is placed on establishing permanent connections for older youth that establish legal permanency (e.g., reunification with family, adoption or custody transfer to a relative). Independent living services include, but are not limited to, high school assistance, post-secondary/vocational assistance, life skills training, health education, career exploration and planning, job readiness training, housing assistance, and mentoring. In addition, young people who leave foster care after they turn 18 years old but have not attained age 23 can receive aftercare services, including counseling, employment, education and room and board.

The Foster Care Services component of the Permanency Program supports the Virginia Department of Social Services' mission through helping children and families recognize and build upon their strengths and skills to develop successful futures. Services are provided to strengthen the family; find permanent homes in which the child may grow up; and provide services to aid older youth in the transition into adulthood as productive citizens of their community and the Commonwealth.

• 
  

  Financial support for children

  
  


• 
  

  Services to promote family stability

  
  


• 
  

  Support of organizations serving communities

  
  


• 
  

  Services to protect children

  
  


• 
  

  Services to ensure that children have permanent homes 

  
  


• 
  

  Services that promote sufficiency

  
  

Funding for the Foster Care program comes from general funds and federal funds. The federal funds come from various sources, including Title IV-E Foster Care, Title IV-B Part II (Promoting Safe and Stable Families), Chafee Independent Living and Education and Training Vouchers, and the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG).

Supplemental Child Welfare Activities are a specialized continuum of services to children who have been or are at risk of being abused, neglected or exploited.  Services focus on identification, assessment, education, and treatment in an effort to prevent child maltreatment and preserve families.  Child welfare activities are a continuum encompassing Child Protective Services, Prevention (primary through tertiary) and Permanency Services (Foster Care, Adoption, ICPC). Child Protective Services are available to all children, under the age of 18, and to their families on a 24-hour a day, immediate response basis.  Child Protective Services is child-centered, family-focused, and based upon the belief that the primary responsibility for the care of children rests within their families.  Child Protective Services also includes preventive services that enable families to provide adequate care for children, thereby enhancing the safety and well-being of children and precluding the need for removal of the child from the home.  In addition, the State operates a 24 hour, seven days a week hotline to receive reports of suspected child abuse and neglect.  All children and families are eligible for these services regardless of income.

The Supplemental Child Welfare Activities component supports the Virginia Department of Social Services' mission by protecting children from abuse and neglect and providing parents with services that enable them to provide better care for their children.  By providing these services to children and families, we are helping shape strong futures for children and contributing to building stronger families and communities.

• 
  

  Services to protect children

  
  


• 
  

  Services to promote family stability

  
  


• 
  

  Preventive services to enable families to provide adequate care for their children

  
  


• 
  

  Support of organizations serving communities

  
  


• 
  

  Educational materials on recognizing and reporting of child abuse and neglect

  
  


• 
  

  Adoption services to help facilitate and promote adoption along with post-adoption services to adoptive parents

  
  


• 
  

  Display galleries of waiting children used for child-specific recruitment brochures and pamphlets on adoption

  
  


• 
  

  Contracts with licensed child placing agencies and community organizations to provide a full array of adoption services

  
  


• 
  

  Partnerships with faith-based organizations to promote action to adopt by congregation members, community organizations, and the general public

  
  


• 
  

  Birth Father Registry

  
  


• 
  

  Recruitment and retention initiatives and services to establish new foster and adoptive families

  
  

Funding for the Child Welfare Services comes from general funds, federal funds and special funds. The federal funds come from various sources including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) State Grants, Community Based Family Resource Grants, and the Victims of Crime Acts (VOCA) grant. The special funds result from fees for searches of the CPS Central Registry.

This service area helps children in foster care who have been permanently and legally separated from their birth parents become permanent members of a new family. Services are provided to strengthen adoptive families after legal adoption to prevent adoption dissolution. Adoption Assistance provides a monthly financial assistance benefit to the parent(s) of an eligible adopted child and is intended to assist with the payment of expenses of caring for the child.  Eligibility must be determined and a negotiated adoption assistance agreement must be signed prior to the final order of adoption. Families may also obtain assistance in finalizing non-agency placement adoptions including parental placement adoptions, step-parent adoptions, intercountry adoptions, adult adoptions, and private child-placing agencies adoptions. The State’s Adoption Program maintains closed adoption records and releases information from these records as allowed by state law.

By assisting children and families with the adoption process and courts to make informed decisions regarding custody of children, we are helping shape strong futures for children and contributing to building stronger families and communities.

• 
  

  Services to promote family stability

  
  


• 
  

  Financial support for children

  
  


• 
  

  Services that promote sufficiency (post-adoption services)

  
  


• 
  

  Services to protect children

  
  


• 
  

  Services to ensure that children have permanent homes 

  
  

Funding for the Adoptions program comes from general funds and federal funds. The federal funds come from various child welfare grants including Title IV-E Adoption Assistance, Title IV-B Part I (Child Welfare Services), Title IV-B Part II (Promoting Safe and Stable Families), Adoption Incentive Funds, and the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG).

Prevention services are an integral part of the continuum of all child welfare services. They include, but are not limited to, providing information and services to accomplish the following goals: 

• Strengthen families


• Promote child safety, well-being, and permanency


• Minimize harm to children


• Maximize the abilities of families to protect and care for their children


• Prevent the occurrence or reoccurrence of child maltreatment


• Prevent out-of-home care, including preventing foster care.

Federal Title IV-E funding under parts B and E of Title IV of the Social Security Act. This funding provide enhanced support to children and families in order to prevent entry into foster care by providing  mental health prevention and treatment services, substance use disorder prevention and treatment services, and in-home, skill-based parenting programs that are listed in the Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse and included in Virginia’s federal Title IV-E Prevention Services Plan.

Prevention Services are provided in the Home (In-Home services) for the following population:  Families self-referred due to significant crises;  Families who may have had a substantiation of abuse or neglect;Children or youth who, in the absence of preventive services, would be at imminent risk of out-of-home care or placement into foster care;  Court involved children or youth that have not been removed from the home and are at risk of out of home placement;  A child who is receiving family reunification support after foster care placement; A pregnant or parenting youth in foster care;   A child whose adoption or guardianship arrangement is at risk of a disruption or dissolution that would result in a foster care placement.

Prevent further future abuse and neglect to the child; assure child safety; and, maintain the child in their family and community (prevention of out-of-home and foster care placements).  Prevention services supports the Virginia Department of Social Services' mission through increased child, family and adult participation in evidence-based prevention services to prevent and mitigate abuse and neglect

• Evidence-Based Services


• Services to prevent further child maltreatment


• Services to maintain children safely in their homes and communities


• Financial support for children


• Services to promote family stability


• Support of organizations serving communities

Funding for the Prevention program comes from general funds and federal funds. The federal funds come from various child welfare grants including Title IV-E Prevention Grant and Transition Act Funds.

This service area is responsible for the cash assistance for unattached children served through the Commonwealth’s General Relief Program (GR). GR is an important component of the Commonwealth’s social safety net as it provides assistance for children excluded from participation in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. GR provides assistance to children living with an unrelated caretaker and is financed through state and local funding. Participation is optional for localities. Of the 120 local departments of social services, 23 agencies operate a GR program.

By assisting needy children, the GR program assists children in triumphing over poverty and shaping strong futures for themselves, their families and communities. The GR program provides assistance to children who are living with unrelated individuals or individuals who cannot verify their relationship to the child.

• COV § 63.2-802 - Eligibility for General Relief


• 22 VAC 40-411 - General Relief Program

Financial support is provided to needy children who reside with unrelated caretakers.

Funding for the General Relief Program is financed by state and local funds. Only the general fund is appropriated in the state budget.

This service area includes two programs for refugee and immigrant populations as well as repatriation services for U.S. citizens arriving in Virginia from overseas and repatriated to Virginia. The VDSS Division of Community and Volunteer Services' Office of New Americans administers all three programs.  The two refugee programs are the Refugee Resettlement Program (VRRP) and the Unaccompanied Refugee Minor Program (URMP).  For VRRP and URMP, federal grants fund 100 percent of direct service and state and local administration costs.

VRRP services facilitate refugees’ successful transition to life in the U.S. and attainment of self-sufficiency.  VRRP services include: 1) employment services; 2) time limited cash and medical assistance; 3) assistance for school age refugees; 4) assistance for older refugees; 5) health and emotional wellness; and 6) access to health care.  Individuals eligible for VRRP services are refugees, asylees, Cuban/Haitian entrants, Afghans/Iraqis with special immigrant visa status, and victims of human trafficking as well as various designated humanitarian parolee categories.

Immigrant Services supports the economic, linguistic and civic integration of new Americans throughout the Commonwealth. The program identifies unmet needs and barriers to integration that Virginia’s immigrants encounter with the goal to further strengthen Virginia’s economy, support resilient regional economies, and produce a high-quality, multilingual workforce.

URM services include: foster care; reunification with family or a case specific permanency plan; culturally appropriate case management; education and language support. Individuals eligible for URM services are children and youth (under age 18) who arrive in the U.S. unaccompanied by a parent or other close adult relative and who are refugees, asylees, victims of trafficking, certain minors with Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, and U-visa holders.

The Virginia Emergency Repatriation Program (VERP) provides short term assistance and loans to U.S.    citizens (and their dependents) living abroad who the Department of State determines need assistance in returning to the U.S. due to (i) destitution, mental illness, or other reasons; or (ii) need to be evacuated due to a group (fewer than 500 people) or mass emergency (500 or more people) situation. The core  program policies for individual, group, and mass repatriation are essentially the same; however, they each involve operationally different kinds of preparation, resources and execution.  Services may include cash payment loans and services loans for temporary assistance, such as shelter, transportation, medical care and other services needed for the individual’s health and welfare. State and local administrative costs are requested after the repatriation event.  No federal grant covers the administrative costs for planning and preparation of service delivery.

The U.S. Repatriation Program provides temporary assistance to U.S. citizens and their dependents identified by the Department of State (DOS) as having returned from a foreign country to the United States because of destitution, illness, war, threat of war, or a similar crisis, and are without available resources. Services are available to eligible participants such as money payments, medical care, shelter, transportation, and other goods necessary for the health or welfare of individuals (including guidance, counseling, and other welfare services) are provided as well. 

VRRP and URMP service areas aligns with the VDSS mission to “shape strong futures” by helping refugee-eligible populations “triumph over poverty” by promoting self-sufficiency and assisting refugees in successfully integrating into Virginia communities.

The Refugee Act of 1980 created the Federal Refugee Resettlement Program (RRP).  Under Title IV, Chapter 2 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (OFFICE OF REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT Sec. 411. [8 U.S.C. 1521], Congress appropriated funds for the U.S. RRP and, within the Department of Health and Human Services, established an Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) with the function of funding and administering RRP services. ORR funds and regulates the Virginia’s Resettlement Assistance service area.

Resettlement Assistance is 100% federally funded. The federal funds come from various federal grants for refugee and newcomer assistance.

The Emergency and Energy Assistance Program service area is a core component of the Commonwealth’s safety net for low-income and at-risk Virginians and is responsible for the operation of the Energy Assistance Program (EAP). The EAP helps low-income individuals and families meet their immediate and often emergent home energy needs. The program is 100 percent funded by the federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) block grant and serves approximately one-quarter of all income eligible households in Virginia. Among those households served, the benefit amount typically covers between 35 and 45 percent of the household’s energy costs for that season. With fixed resources, the greater the number of households served, the lower the percentage of overall energy costs the program can cover.

The EAP consists of four components: Fuel Assistance, Crisis Assistance, Cooling Assistance and Weatherization Assistance. Fuel Assistance provides benefits to aid households in paying the cost of heating their homes. Crisis Assistance helps households address energy-related emergencies. Cooling Assistance supports households in purchasing or repairing cooling equipment and the payment of electric bills during the summer months. Local departments of social services perform the eligibility determination for the EAP and payments are usually made directly to vendors.

The Weatherization Assistance Program provides weatherization services to low-income families and is administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) through contracts with nonprofit, community-based organizations. By state statute, DHCD receives 15 percent of the LIHEAP block grant to implement this program.

These programs assist Virginians in triumphing over poverty and shaping strong futures for themselves, their families and their communities. The programs target low-income individuals and families and assist them in meeting their basic human needs. This assistance often helps avoid the unfortunate trade-off many low-income families make between paying for housing, food, and medicine.

Financial Assistance to low-income families and individuals to help them meet home energy needs

The source of funding for the EAP is the federal LIHEAP block grant. The United States Department of Health and Human Services, Administration of Children and Families awards the LIHEAP block grant annually to states and Indian tribes. The EAP is 100% federally funded. Funds for the LIHEAP grant are disbursed as follows: 15 percent is allocated for the Weatherization Assistance Program, 10 percent of the remaining 85 percent is allocated for state and local program administration, and the remaining funds are used to provide direct services and benefits to eligible low-income households.

The Energy Assistance Program service area is a core component of the Commonwealth’s safety net for low-income and at-risk Virginians and will be responsible for the operation of the Percentage of Income Payment Program (PIPP) beginning in 2023. The PIPP will help low-income individuals and families who are customers of Dominion Energy (DE) and Appalachian Power Company (APCo) to pay their monthly electricity bills and reduce their arrearage account balances. Educational materials will be provided to households regarding energy conservation. Additionally, they will have the opportunity to have a weatherization audit performed on their home as part of the program.  The program will be 100 percent funded by a universal service fee collected from all DE and APCo residential electricity customers.  It is estimated that the program may serve approximately one-half of all income eligible customers of DE and APCo.  PIPP participants will pay no more than 10% of their income toward electricity costs (and are required to pay their portion of their bill on time each month); PIPP will pay the remainder. Local Departments of Social Services will perform the eligibility determination for the PIPP and the payments will be made directly to DE and APCo.  

The Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) will conduct the weatherization audits through contracts with nonprofit, community-based organizations and will bill the PIPP for each audit conducted.

This program will assist Virginians in triumphing over poverty and shaping strong futures for themselves, their families, and their communities. The program will target low-income individuals and families who are customers of DE and APCo.  It will assist them in meeting their basic human needs. This assistance will help avoid the unfortunate trade-off many low-income families make between paying for other basic needs. It will help them to reduce their debt, establish budgeting skills, and learn to reduce their energy burden.

Financial assistance to low-income families and individuals to help them meet home energy needs for electric service and reduce arrearage balances on their account.

The sole source of funding for the PIPP is the universal service fee collected from DE and APCo customers. The funds are disbursed as follows: $3 million annually is to be used for Administrative costs of the VDSS, the DHCD, and local DSS program administration. The remaining funds are used to provide direct services and benefits to eligible low-income households. Note: The annual total cost of PIPP shall not exceed costs, including administrative costs, in the aggregate of (a) $25 million for any Phase I Utility [APCo] or (b) $100 million for any Phase II Utility [DE] in any rate year in which such program costs are incurred.

This service area provides core funding for Virginia’s network of community action agencies and statewide community action organizations. This   network provides a wide variety of services designed to ameliorate the effects of poverty and build self-sufficient families and communities. The Department contractually distributes all of these funds to the local community action agencies and statewide organizations.

This service area supports the mission of the Department by providing resources to the community action network that result in direct services to low-income individuals, families and communities. Community action services enhance the independence, well-being and personal responsibility of these customers.

• Support of organizations serving communities;


• Services to promote family stability;


• Services to protect vulnerable adults;


• Economic assistance to low income families/individuals in regards to nutrition, child care, health care eligibility;


• Services that promote self-sufficiency;


• Community and economic development projects;


• Educational services (e.g., Head Start);


• Housing construction, rehabilitation and weatherization services;


• Encouraging businesses, trusts and individuals to donate to approved non-profit organizations for the benefit of low-income persons through use of tax credits that can be applied against their state income tax liability (Neighborhood Assistance Program).

Funding for Community Action Grants comes from federal funds from the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) funds. TANF funds also support Community Action Agencies. General funds support the EITC program.

This service area covers activities conducted through the AmeriCorps program and in partnership with the Virginia Governor’s Advisory Board on Service and Volunteerism. AmeriCorps is a national service program funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service.

AmeriCorps grants, which are awarded on a competitive basis to public and nonprofit organizations, help fund living stipends for several hundred full and part-time AmeriCorps members each year. AmeriCorps members provide intensive service at nonprofits, schools, public agencies, and community and faith-based groups in underserved communities of Virginia. The AmeriCorps areas of focus are education, economic opportunity, veterans’ services, disaster services, healthy futures and environmental stewardship. Sample activities include tutoring, job training, college preparation, veterans support, and environmental support. AmeriCorps members also mobilize community volunteers, who in turn strengthen the capacity of the organizations in which they serve. The Virginia AmeriCorps Commission also promotes service and volunteerism for all of Virginia’s citizens through support of volunteer centers in Virginia, statewide training, and volunteer recognition events.

AmeriCorps is the embodiment of “people helping people overcome poverty, abuse and neglect” through members’ service in community-based organizations and in their mandate to mobilize volunteers in addressing community needs. AmeriCorps helps its members to “shape strong futures for themselves, their families and their communities” through education awards that can be used to pay for college or to pay back qualified student loans.

• Grant funding directly supports AmeriCorps service members.


• 
  

  AmeriCorps service programs and members provide direct services that meet compelling local needs in Virginia such as education, creation of economic opportunity, support of veterans and military families, disaster preparedness, healthy futures, and environmental stewardship.

  
  


• 
  

  AmeriCorps service programs and members are engaged in volunteer recruitment and activation, which strengthens and builds capacity in the organizations and communities in which AmeriCorps programs operate.

  
  

Capacity building support from the VISTA program provides a full-time volunteer to a number of DSS departments to build capacity for their mission.  VDSS department supported through the OVCS VISTA Capacity Building Project include the Office of New Americans, Office of Economic Opportunity, Substance Use Disorder Office, Office on Strategy and Innovation, and Office on Volunteerism and Community Service.

American Rescue Plans funds have provided opportunities through Public Health AmeriCorps and a National Service Accelerator grant program from 2021 – 2024.

A new state service plan was approved by the Governor’s Advisory Board on Service and Volunteerism in November 2021 that will guide the Commission’s priorities through December 2024.

The service area is 100% federally funded.

This service area funds contracts with different entities to support the mission of the Department and provide important services to low-income Virginians across the Commonwealth. The services include:

• Home visiting services for at-risk families to promote positive parenting, improve child health and development, and reduce child abuse and neglect.


• Teaching child safety awareness to youth to prevent child abuse.


• Dementia-specific training for long-term care workers in licensed nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, and adult day care centers.


• Supportive services that address basic needs (e.g., food, housing, access to health services, employment) of families in crisis.


• Child-focused services (e.g., forensic interviews, victim support and advocacy services, medical evaluations, mental health services) for victims of child abuse and neglect, delivered by a multidisciplinary team in a child-friendly setting.


• Information, assistance and referral network to support parents and families that need early childhood services.


• Community-based prevention and mentoring programs for youth as well as programs to prevent student suspension and dropout.


• Community employment and training programs to move low-income individuals into competitive jobs and career pathways and out of poverty.


• Residential, education, counseling and other services for sexually exploited youth, including victims of sex trafficking.


• Services for survivors of domestic abuse and violence.


• Matching foster care children with families through use of an online matching tool.


• Homelessness services.


• Child nutrition programs.


• Outreach, education and tax preparation services to low income families eligible for federal tax credits to increase filing of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).


• Employment support services, such as assistance with transportation.

Each of the programs within this service area support low-income families, assisting them in strengthening individuals, their families, and the capacity of their communities to address a myriad of needs including education, nutrition assistance, teen and non-marital pregnancy prevention, abuse prevention and protection, and asset creation.

• Activities to improve young children’s school readiness


• Education Services


• Support of organizations serving communities


• Services to protect vulnerable adults and children


• Economic assistance to low income families/individuals for nutrition, child care, health care eligibility, and financial assistance to low income families/individuals


• Community-based employment and training services to assist TANF recipients and other low-income individuals to obtain competitive jobs with career potential and move out of poverty


• Administration and supervision of funding to human services organizations providing direct services to low-income individuals/families

The budget for this service area is a combination of federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Social Services Block Grant (SSBG), Child Abuse and Neglect (CAN) funding as well as general funds.

Administrative and Support Services units provide the organizational infrastructure which allows the operational units to function. Most services are generic to agencies including management oversight, information technology, budgeting, accounting, human resources management, planning, legislative liaison, procurement, emergency management, general services, public affairs, and internal audit. In addition to these services, two atypical functions that are specific to social services, Appeals and Fair Hearings and Fraud Reduction/Management, are also provided.

By providing the organization framework which allows the program units to function, the Administrative and Support Services units contribute to the achievement of all the Department’s strategic and programmatic goals.

Administrative services to support supervision and oversight of social services programs

Support services are funded by a combination of state general fund and non-general funds. The sources of the non-general fund include all the major federal grants (Food Stamps, Medicaid, TANF, IV-D Child Support Enforcement, IV-E Foster and Adoptions, Social Services Block Grant (SSBG), Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), and the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF).

The Division of Licensing Program (DOLP)   protects the safety, health and well-being of children and vulnerable adults in out-of-home care. DOLP regulates five types of non-medical day and residential out of home care settings for vulnerable children and adults. The Division’s workload includes adult day and residential care (78%), licensed child placing agencies (19%) and children’s residential care (less than 3%). Provided services include mandated inspections, investigation of complaints and allegations, enforcement procedures, and provider/community training and technical assistance.

By enforcing regulatory requirements, DOLP protects the safety, health and well-being of children and vulnerable adults in out-of-home care.

DOLP protects the safety, health and well-being of children and vulnerable adults in out-of-home care.

Funding for Regulation of Adult and Child Welfare Facilities comes from general funds and non-general funds. The non-general funds come from various sources primarily matching awards and the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG).

The Interdepartmental Regulation Program for Children's Residential Facilities ended on July 1, 2008. The Office of Interdepartmental Regulation has become the Office of Background Investigations (OBI). This new office will continue to process criminal background investigations for all children's residential facilities (except those certified by the Department of Juvenile Justice), child placing agencies, and child day programs. Additionally, VDSS' Child Protective Services Central Registry Search Unit was moved to OBI. In January 2010, OBI became part of the Division of Licensing Programs (DOLP). In March 2019, OBI again moved under the newly created Division of State Programs, in Business Operations under the direction of Peter Finn.

By assuring that individuals convicted of certain barrier crimes or who have a founded complaint of child abuse or neglect cannot work with or provide services to children or other vulnerable populations, VDSS maximizes the safety and stability of children and adults in any number of caretaker, educational and residential settings. This action directly supports the agency's first strategic goal and supports our mission of helping people overcome abuse and neglect and to shape strong futures for themselves, their families and communities.

DOE took over the licensing authority of all Child Care programs effective July 1, 2021. Hence there are authority Code changes for OBI. DOE Code Title 22.1- Chapter 15 replaces DSS Code Title 63.2- Chapter 17, and the state regulatory authority changes from § 63.2-1720.1 and §63.2-1721.1 to the following:

§ 22.1-289.035. (Effective July 1, 2021) Licensed child day centers, family day homes, and family day systems; employment for compensation or use as volunteers of persons convicted of or found to have committed certain offenses prohibited; national background check required; penalty.



§ 22.1-289.036. (Effective July 1, 2021) Background check upon application for licensure, registration, or approval as child day center, family day home, or family day system; penalty.

Funding for this service area comes from fees collected from individuals requesting background investigations and fingerprinting administrative fees.

The Emergency Planning Preparedness Assistance service area leads and coordinates State Coordinated Regional Shelter (SCRS) planning and operational readiness activities.  The SCRS plan is a multi-agency plan to supplement local sheltering during a catastrophic event with emergency shelters located in state-owned facilities, staffed by state employees and resources, and supported by numerous state agencies.

The Emergency Planning Preparedness Assistance service area helps Virginians achieve safety, independence and overall well-being during a catastrophic event through State Coordinated Regional Shelter planning, preparedness, and operations.

Coordination of State Coordinated Regional Shelter planning and preparedness

Coordination of State Coordinated Regional Shelter operations

The source of funding for the Emergency Planning Preparedness Assistance service area comes from general funds and federal funds. The federal funds come from multiple grants, including TANF, SNAPET, IV-E Foster Care Admin, IV-E Adoption, and Medicaid.