As budget cuts are seen across the federal, state and local levels, Fannin County Division of Family & Children Services (DFCS) is facing the possibility of closing the local Fannin County office and consolidating with the Gilmer County location.
Fannin County DFCS Director Mark Knowles said no official decisions have been made in regards to budgets.
“Any budget is a proposal at this point in time,” Knowles said. “This is a difficult time for everyone, this is a difficult time for the DFCS office, it’s a difficult time for the community. I hope, going forward, that we can continue to manage the work that we continue to do on a daily basis to high standards. That’s something that I’ve had to ask my staff and continue to instill in my staff, that the work continues and the quality needs to grow and increase in quality on a daily basis.”
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the local office has been teleworking.
“With that come challenges,” Knowles said. “Initially, we had staff that were concerned about teleworking, but I think those concerns have diminished somewhat with staff understanding the quality of work continues, and the processes that we have in place continue, which is a testament to the good work of the staff that we have within the county.”
Their Office of Financial Independence (OFI) has seen an increase in food stamps and Medicaid due to the unemployment rate increase caused by the pandemic, however Knowles said they are now seeing those numbers decrease.
“In the coming months, we will increase our work in OFI based on the renewals of cases that were coming due, that we were asked by the federal government to push back, and those will occur in June, July time,” he said.
The services side of DFCS, including intake, referrals and centralized intake, continue to receive calls, though there are less than in years past.
“In the past two or three weeks, I think our volume has increased, which shows testament to the people within the community making referrals in regards to abuse and neglect,” he said.
He asked that mandated reporters continue to make their reports to DFCS so they can manage them.
DFCS has been managing court cases via virtual platforms. Knowles said, “We manage the best we can within the parameters that we have ensuring that the children and families are receiving the services that they so duly deserve. I appreciate all of the stakeholders that have taken part in those.”