LITTLE ROCK -- During the fiscal session of the legislature, the focus of media attention has been on the budget of the state Human Services Department (DHS), which is the single largest state agency.
Public attention focused specifically on the Medicaid program, administered by DHS. However, it's important to remember that DHS provides numerous services apart from Medicaid.
For example, employees in the DHS Division of Children and Family Services investigate allegations of abuse and neglect of children. They also recruit foster families to take in children who have been removed from dangerously abusive homes and places children with adoptive parents.
The DHS Division of Aging and Adult Services helps elderly people live independently. Services include home delivered meals, daytime supervision and placement in assisted living centers. The ARChoices in home care services include making structural changes to a house, such as adding a ramp for a wheelchair or installing railings.
DHS also looks into allegations of abuse or neglect of adults who live in long-term care facilities.
DHS has a division that helps people who are blind or visually impaired. The department's Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education operates food programs and funds child care centers for low-income families. It runs a summer food program for children who qualify for free or reduced priced lunches at school, and so they don't miss meals when school is out for the summer.
The Behavioral Health Services Division funds care and treatment of people with mental illnesses.; operates the State Hospital at Little Rock; and in 69 of 75 Arkansas counties are sites for community based mental health care.
The DHS Division of Youth Services operates juvenile correction facilities, formerly reform schools or training centers.
The Division of Developmental Disabilities Services operates five Human Development Centers -- Arkadelphia, Booneville, Conway (formerly known as the Arkansas Children's Colony), Jonesboro and Warren.
The Arkansas Health Center, formerly known as the Benton Services Center, is a psychiatric nursing home licensed within the DHS Office of Long Term Care for people with special needs not provided by most community nursing homes.
The DHS Division of County Operations administers food stamps to low-income families under a program known as SNAP, which stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The Division also distributes food and commodities to food banks and emergency shelters, and helps low-income families pay utilities in periods of financial crisis.
The ARKids First program is within DHS. It provides health coverage for about 70,000 Arkansas children. Many of the children live in working class families with incomes that are too high to qualify for traditional Medicaid.
Medicaid is a program administered within the DHS Division of Medical Services. It provides government health care for low-income families, people with disabilities and senior citizens in long-term care facilities. The Division's Office of Long Term Care investigates complaints against nursing homes, as well as allegations of abuse, neglect, theft of residents' property and poor quality of care.
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Editor's note: Arkansas Senator Cecile Bledsoe represents the third district. From Rogers, Sen. Bledsoe is chair of the Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee.
Editorial on 04/27/2016