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County Departments of Social/Human Services in Colorado provide a wide variety of services and financial assistance to families and individuals. Authorized by federal and state statutes in the 1930’s as county welfare departments, these county administered offices have delivered increasingly varied services as the public demanded them and as new legislation dictated. In the last few decades, new assistance programs have been added such as Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), Food Assistance, Medicaid, Low Income Energy Assistance (LEAP), Child Support Enforcement and Child Care Assistance. These were added to the earlier assistance programs for the elderly, blind and disabled.

In addition to financial, medical, energy and food assistance to the needy, county departments of social services have increasingly provided protective services to children and vulnerable adults. The need for these services has grown at an even greater rate than has the need for income assistance, particularly in the last two decades. As society has changed in recent decades, pressures on families and children have increased dramatically. New federal and state laws have addressed the growing needs for protective services, reuniting families, teaching basic parenting skills, providing foster care and adoptive services. These and a host of related services have expanded rapidly in recent years.

The financial impact of programs administered through the county department of social services is significant. When the direct dollar impact of financial assistance, food and energy assistance, child care assistance, employee salaries, vendor payments and various administrative cost is added to the Medicaid dollars that come to county medical facilities, physicians, pharmacies and other Medicaid providers, the total monetary impact on Alamosa County is in excess of $25,000,000.

The Alamosa County Department of Social Services is organized into seven units; two units that provide protective services to families and adults, a Core Service unit that provides services designed to help families function and to help reunite children with their families, the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families unit, which also determines medicaid and food assistance eligibility for that population as well as determining eligibility and authorizing payment for child care assistance, the Adult Category Income Maintenance unit which determines eligibility for old age pension, aid to the needy disabled, nursing homes, medicaid and food stamps, the Investigation and Child Support Enforcement unit, and the Administrative Support unit.

Last Modified: 2/27/06