By Nancy Lindsey
The Patrick County Board of Supervisors took no action July 13 on a request by Joan Rogers, fiscal agent for the Children’s Services Act (CSA), to appropriate $500,000 for the coming year.
That amount is projected to be needed because the costs of serving at-risk children—those with special needs, emotional, behavioral and mental problems, or criminal behavior—have “skyrocketed” in recent years, Rogers said.
That is illustrated by the number of children in foster care, Rogers said: 17 today, contrasted with two or three annually a decade ago.
Rogers, who is also director of the Patrick County Department of Social Services, said the main reason children are removed from their parents’ homes is substance abuse, typically cocaine or methamphetamine. Heroin may also become a problem in the county, she said.
Other factors that lead to parents being unable to take care of their children include poverty, transportation problems, and lack of day care, Rogers said.
Residential placement for children spikes the cost above that of foster care, Rogers said, adding that one child is now undergoing treatment as a sex offender.
Finding foster care is also a challenge, Rogers said. “We need more foster parents who are willing to take care of newborns, children exposed to drugs, and all age groups.”
Because there is such a shortage of foster care in Patrick County, many kids have to be placed outside the county, Rogers said.
The Community Policy Management Team is the entity asking for the funds and is responsible for spending them, she said.
“Rural areas face a lack of resources,” Rogers said, pointing out that urban areas typically have many more support agencies.
Mayo River District Supervisor Lock Boyce said the board had already allocated funds dedicated to the CSA for the 2016-2017 fiscal year, and “it should be there.”
Boyce, a former member of the social services board of directors, said the state “dumped the CSA on localities” several years ago, requiring the county to pay a portion of the cost of serving at-risk children.
Before that happened, Patrick County depended on extended families, such as grandparents, to take care of kids without parents, Boyce said.
Changes in the judiciary system also contributed to higher numbers of children who need services under CSA, Boyce said.
Boyce said he and Rogers have been warning the board for some time to put money aside for increasing CSA costs.
“We have no option,” Boyce said. “Under state law we are compelled to supply these funds.”
Blue Ridge District Supervisor Karl Weiss asked County Attorney Alan Black if it is true that the county is mandated to provide the money for CSA.
“Yes, we are,” Black said.
Weiss said board members should contact their legislators. “This is a load of garbage,” he said.
In another matter at the July 13 meeting, the board approved the reappointment of Scott Eutsler to the Patrick County Public Service Authority (PSA) and Clayton Kendrick to the Patrick County Economic Development Authority (EDA).
