Pamphlets and informational material for all
Department of Human Resources programs are
available, free of charge, from the Office.

OFFICE OF WELFARE
EMPLOYMENT POLICY

David Siegel, Director

1100 N. Eutaw St.
Baltimore 21201 Telephone: 383-2166

The Office of Welfare Employment Policy
(OWEP) was created from the Employment Initia-
tives Program in 1984. The Office provides the
Department with a focal point for analysis of
employment and training issues and develops pro-
grams to help welfare clients become self-support-
ing.

Review and analysis of existing programs en-
ables the Office to identify barriers to employment
and recommend legislative and administrative
means to remove them. The Office also identifies
ways to redirect programs and resources to pro-
mote client self-support.

The Office oversees work programs, including
the Employment Initiatives Program that provides
employment and training to help Aid to Families
with Dependent Children (AFDC) applicants and
recipients secure work. Remedial education, skills,
training, on-the-job training, work experience and
job search assistance are available to clients and
tailored to meet their particular needs.

SOCIAL SERVICES
ADMINISTRATION

Frank Farrow, Executive Director
Frank Blanton, Deputy Director

300 W. Preston St.
Baltimore 21201 Telephone: 576-5200

The Social Services Administration was original-
ly established as the State Department of Public
Welfare by Chapter 99, Acts of 1939, to supersede
the Board of State Aid and Charities established by
Chapter 679, Acts of 1900. By Chapter 148, Acts
of 1967, the General Assembly modernized the
law, bringing it into conformance with practice
and clarifying the responsibilities of the boards and
directors of the State and local departments. The
name of the agency was changed to the Depart-
ment of Social Services by Chapter 702, Acts of
1968. The Administration adopted its present
name by Chapter 96, Acts of 1970 (Code 1957,
Art. 41, sec. 205F (b)).

Human Resources/243

The Social Services Administration is the central
coordinating and directing agency of all social
service activities in the State. These include adop-
tion, foster care, protective services to children and
families, child day care services, protective services
to adults, homemaker services and community
home aides, services to families with children, and
services to single parents. To administer these
services, the Administration is organized into five
units: the Office of Child Welfare, Office of Adult
and Family Services, Office of Day Care and
Special Projects, Office of Administrative Services,
and Office of Program Support.

The Social Services Administration is responsi-
ble for the development and coordination of its
services, for determining the factors that seem to
contribute to social and family problems, and for
recommending changes or new programs to meet
some of the problems. In carrying out this respon-
sibility, the Social Services Administration calls
upon the local social services departments for
leadership within their communities and for partic-
ipation in statewide activities. In Baltimore City
and in each county there is a local department of
social services whose director administers these
social services activities within the respective local-
ity subject to the supervision, direction, and con-
trol of the State Administration.

The Social Services Administration supervises all
public and private institutions that have the care,
custody, or control of dependent, abandoned, or
neglected children, except those placed under the
supervision of another agency. It licenses agencies
and institutions having the care and custody of
minors, and registers private homes giving day care
services to children. The Administration maintains
a central registry of reported child abuse cases.

The Executive Director of Socia) Services is
appointed by the Secretary of Human Resources
(Code 1957, Art. 88A, sec. 2).

Each local department of social services has a
nine-member board of social services. In each
county, board members are appointed to three-year
terms by the local governing authority. One mem-
ber is a member of the local governing body,
designated to serve ex officio. In Baltimore City,
the board is called the social services commission.
The Mayor appoints its members to six-year terms.
The Mayor and the Commissioner of Health serve
ex officio (Code 1957, Art. 88A, secs. 1, 2, 4, 14,
14A).