The Northampton County Department of Social Services (DSS) asked the Board of Commissioners to approve compensation for staff who provide overnight or hospital-based coverage for clients with acute behavioral or mental-health needs. The board voted to approve the compensation proposal as presented and also approved a child support legal services contract the department said was needed for upcoming court dates.

DSS Director described cases since September in which foster children or guardianship clients could not be placed in licensed facilities or foster homes and required staff to stay overnight at the DSS office or at hospitals to maintain custody and ensure safety. The director said state statute places custody responsibility on DSS and the county for children in DSS custody and that staff have provided round-the-clock coverage when placements were unavailable. The director presented a stipend proposal that tied compensation rates to shift hours: an example schedule provided in the presentation offered $200 per shift for workers staying at the agency outside normal working hours, and graduated payments for hospital stays by shift (e.g., $100 for 8 a.m.–4 p.m., $150 for 4 p.m.–12 a.m., $150 for 12 a.m.–8 a.m.). The director also asked that officers who sit with children be compensated.

DSS said state-level behavioral-health capacity constraints drive many of these cases: county staff cited statewide shortages of mental-health and psychiatric residential treatment facility beds, noting that during the 33-week data collection referenced in the department presentation there was an average of approximately 26 foster children sleeping in DSS offices each week and many stays were for mental-health placement reasons. The director said some placements have required sending children out of state; in one cited instance the county paid for out-of-state placement and monthly travel for county staff to maintain case oversight.

Commissioners responded with support for DSS staff. One commissioner moved and the board approved the compensation plan “as presented” (motion and second recorded in the minutes). The board also approved a contract for outside child-support legal services with Wendy H. Rose (contract text in the meeting packet) to ensure representation during a recent transition to the eCourts platform.

DSS additionally requested two full-time maintenance positions (30 hours per week) to replace existing part-time staffing in the DSS building; the board moved to approve the requested maintenance staffing in the personnel decision paper presented. The director said the change triggers retirement-system enrollment because the positions exceed the 19-hour-per-week part-time threshold.

Why it matters: DSS staff said the pattern of children temporarily housed in county offices is driven by statewide shortages in appropriate placements and creates both safety and staffing burdens for county workers. The board’s actions provide immediate financial recognition for staff who provide extraordinary coverage and give DSS additional legal support for child-support court work.

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DSS said it will monitor placements and staffing needs and report back to the board; the department also warned that a federal government shutdown could affect certain benefit-processing functions (for example, tax intercepts and potential Food and Nutrition benefits), and the director said the county will keep the board informed of any changes.