That the Board of Supervisors approve a budget amendment and appropriation in support of two new positions within the Department of Social Services (DSS), a Family Services Worker and a Training Specialist.  Funds are available due to additional state/federal funding finalized after the approval of the FY 2018 Budget.

The State’s FY 2018 budget, adopted after the approval of Spotsylvania’s FY 2018 Budget, included increased funding for staffing and operations of some local departments of social services.  Spotsylvania received an additional allocation in base staffing and operations funding resulting in a reduction of local funds required in the amount of $125,404.  DSS is requesting that $111,379 of this revenue remain within DSS to fund the hire of two additional DSS workers, a Family Services Worker to expand capacity with Adult Services/Adult Protective Services (AS/APS), and a Training Specialist to support Eligibility operations; both with effective hire dates of September 1, 2017.  Both of these positions were identified during the FY 2018 Budget process as necessary to address critical issues facing the agency and were part of the department presentation to the Board on February 21, 2017.    

Details regarding the specific need for and the impact of each position are provided in attached documentation.  Driving the need for the Family Services Worker for the AS/APS unit is the significant increase in the population being served by that unit and corresponding increases in case volume.  According to Census Bureau data, in 2015 persons aged 65 and older represented 12.2% of the County's total population.  This demographic has seen an increase of 13.5% since 2012 as compared to the overall County population growth of 3.9% for the same period.  This growth trend is consistent with state and national growth trends and is likely to continue for at least the next few years.  The growth has challenged the agency’s ability to appropriately respond to calls for adult services and to complaints requiring investigations into abuse, neglect or exploitation.  APS investigations increased 49.4% between FY 2014 and FY 2016 and Adult services cases increased 68.4% in the same time period.  The AS/APS unit is currently staffed with two Family Services Workers and one Senior Family Services Worker, as well as a dedicated AS/APS Supervisor which was approved as part of the FY 2018 Budget and was filled effective July 31, 2017.

The Training Specialist for the Eligibility Unit is in response to four critical concerns within the Eligibility Unit:  

• New workers require concentrated training and high levels of direct supervision of case work;
• Policy changes/systems changes require on-going training of staff;
• Case troubleshooting is a time-intensive activity inhibiting the success of worker and agency; and
• Short-term and long-term vacancies in the Eligibility unit create additional workloads for staff and introduce increased opportunity for error. 

The requested Training Specialist will:

• Provide 100% of monitoring of new worker case activity and provide on-site, targeted training support to address new workers’ gaps in knowledge or skill set resulting in a faster transition to a full case load with only general supervision;

• Ensure communication of state program and system changes to all workers is timely and deliver training/supports needed to ensure the most effective assimilation of policy/program changes into worker practices;

• Provide workers a consistent go-to source for problem resolution;  

• Assume or materially participate in assumption of maintaining caseloads of workers out on extended leave or during staff vacancies; and

• During periods of full staffing, continue to address remaining backlog of overdue renewals, particularly those that are from caseloads of exited workers.