Read and listen to part one here.
After a year of investigations and interventions, the Nelson County Department of Social Services is rebuilding. In the second of a three-part series, WMRA's Meredith McCool explores a statewide tool to guide local departments, and the staffing challenges faced by small rural agencies. Please be aware that this story contains details of child abuse and neglect.
In part one of this story, we heard from the Nelson County commonwealth’s attorney, Daniel Rutherford, about lapses in communication and reporting by Nelson County DSS that left children in dangerous situations. He said that notifying his office is a fundamental step in the DSS process.
DANIEL RUTHERFORD: It could be verbal. It could be a sticky note. It could be driving by hollering out the window. I mean, it just says, has to be notified, and I will take any action.
Once they notify the commonwealth’s attorney and law enforcement, local social services departments are supposed to determine their next steps using a tool called the Structured Decision Making system, or SDM.
ERIC REYNOLDS: It's used by every agency across the commonwealth, and if used properly, will come out with good outcomes as far as what the next steps will be.
Eric Reynolds is the director of the state Office of the Children’s Ombudsman.
REYNOLDS: So they have to decide whether or not it is a valid CPS referral. … Once it's validated, they can determine what the response time is. … And then the third decision is, is this going to be a CPS investigation … or the second route they can take is a family assessment. …. And what we were finding with Nelson County is that some of those assessments weren't done properly.
According to Rutherford, whatever decision they reached using the SDM, his office should have been notified.
RUTHERFORD: All of 2024, they did zero investigations the entire year, which is a travesty in and of itself. I did eight prosecutions of child abuse that year, so there should have been a minimum of eight. … And that's when I knew things were off.
In 2025, the Office of the Children’s Ombudsman initiated 32 formal investigations involving local departments of social services, including five in Nelson County.
REYNOLDS: We had opened up investigations on some other local agencies around the same time that the Nelson County cases came to our attention, that it just seemed like there was very similar issues amongst them, mainly with the CPS side of it, where decisions with regard to validating … and just safety decisions regarding very vulnerable children.
Structured Decision Making
I wanted to understand other counties’ experiences with regard to reporting and decision making.
REBECCA MORGAN: The SDM tool is pretty clear.
Rebecca Morgan is the director of social services in Middlesex County and the president of the Virginia League of Social Service Executives.
MORGAN: I can't speak to every agency in their practice, but I would say for the most part, we're not struggling to use the tool.
ANDY CRAWFORD: It sometimes goes back to who is on the phone taking that call and the pressure they're under …
Andy Crawford is the director of social services in Bedford County.
CRAWFORD: … because if you have a lot of calls coming in, I think human nature would be sometimes you may move quicker. … You could miss something. I think we try really, really hard to make sure we ask all the right questions, but we are all human.
McCOOL: It almost seems like the kind of situation where, if they're doing their job right, you're not going to know.
ERNIE REED: I would agree with that.
Ernie Reed serves on the Nelson County Board of Supervisors.
REED: You find out when things go terribly wrong, because things have a way of not being complete or up to date, just because we don't have enough staff to be able to get all those things in order.
Scanty salaries
I asked Director Crawford –
McCOOL: What do you see as the biggest statewide challenges facing local departments of social services right now, and particularly in smaller or rural localities?
CRAWFORD: I think staffing is the biggest. The base salary for family services specialists in child welfare is incredibly low.
The current base salary for a family services specialist I in Virginia is about $37,000. Many localities – including Bedford, where Crawford is director – have starting salaries that are higher.
CRAWFORD: The other day, I saw one of my friends who runs a manufacturing company in Botetourt, and he told me, he said, I don't see how you hire anybody, because I can't hire people in manufacturing for less than $70,000. I would say that staffing is the biggest issue because the job is hard and it's time consuming.
In May, there were two family services specialist I jobs open in Nelson County. While the posted starting salary was the same as similar positions in Bristol, Lexington, and Rocky Mount, every other locality had a maximum salary greater than Nelson’s maximum of $50,000. A position in Harrisonburg, for example, offered up to $79,000.
Supervisor Reed is aware of the problem.
REED: Nelson County is a rural area located between Lynchburg and Charlottesville, and offering salaries that are a little bit less than the surrounding areas. Not only is it difficult to find someone to hire, it's difficult to find someone to keep.
I asked the new Nelson County DSS Director, Grace DeShong, if she is concerned about lower pay in Nelson County making it difficult to fill family services specialist, or FSS, positions. She told WMRA via email that she is “concerned about the lower pay, and it does put our agency at a competitive disadvantage.” She went on to say that “we are currently in a holding pattern with the potential for a starting pay increase for FSS workers from the governor’s office.”
In the third and final installment of this series, we'll explore the state’s role in funding and oversight for local departments of social services, and how recent changes could affect Nelson County.
