State Board of Social Services
VDSS Office of Legislative and Regulatory Affairs
5600 Cox Road
Glen Allen, VA 23060
Re: Public Comment on 22VAC40-705-40 – Amendments to Child Protective Services Regulations Resulting from 2026 Legislation
The Virginia League of Social Services Executives (VLSSE) appreciates the opportunity to provide comments regarding the proposed amendments to 22VAC40-705-40.
Recommended Amendment
VLSSE recommends revising the language on Page 10 of 12 as follows (proposed language underlined):
The child protective services worker shall conduct a face-to-face interview with and observation of the alleged victim child within the determined response time. When a victim child is younger than three years of age this contact shall be within 24 hours of receiving the report if the child is determined by the local department to be unsafe at the time of the report.
Basis for the Recommendation
The proposed regulation expands the number of children who require a mandatory 24-hour response by adding children under three years of age and children under eighteen with qualifying disabilities.
1. Current Performance Demonstrates Capacity Challenges
According to Safe Measures data, during FY2026, local departments were unable to make face-to-face contact within 24 hours for approximately 806 children under the age of two. This occurred under the existing statutory requirement.
Expanding the 24-hour mandate without incorporating a safety determination will significantly increase the number of required immediate responses while the current standard is already difficult to meet.
2. Immediate Safety Should Drive Priority
Since the 24-hour response requirement for children under two became mandatory in 2017, VLSSE has advocated for allowing local departments to override the 24-hour requirement when a child has already been determined to be safe at the time of the report.
Examples include situations where:
These situations do not diminish the seriousness of the report but recognize that the child's immediate safety has already been addressed. Allowing professional discretion enables local departments to focus limited resources on children facing imminent danger.
In analysis of SafeMeasures referral data for SFY2026, there is a less than three percent difference in the safety assessment outcomes for children three and under and youth that are older. The locality override option for response times already exists in our evidence-based SDM intake tool as an option for all youth over three. Local departments are already using the override option in practice with other age groups utilizing a tool that research supports.
3. Prioritizing Safe Children Can Delay Responses to Unsafe Children
Every mandatory 24-hour response requires the immediate deployment of staff and resources. When workers are required to respond immediately to children who have already been determined to be safe, those same resources are unavailable for children in other age groups who may face greater or more immediate safety threats.
Local departments support prioritizing children under three and children with disabilities when they are determined to be unsafe at the time of the report. This approach aligns response requirements with the fundamental purpose of Child Protective Services—protecting children who are at immediate risk of harm.
SafeMeasures data shows that over three quarters of the referrals responded to in SFY2026 were children four and older. By increasing response times on a minority of youth with a minimal difference in safety assessment outcomes, already overburdened family services specialists will have an increased workload.
4. Funding Does Not Address the Operational Challenge
Although the 2026 legislation included funding to support implementation, the funding is limited to after-hours and on-call response activities. It does not address the ongoing daytime staffing shortages experienced by local departments.
As of June 2026, statewide local department vacancy rates averaged approximately 17 percent. These workforce shortages continue to limit agencies' ability to meet expanding response requirements despite additional funding.
Conclusion
VLSSE respectfully requests that the State Board adopt the proposed language requiring a 24-hour response when the child is determined to be unsafe at the time of the report.
This amendment preserves the legislative intent to prioritize vulnerable children while allowing local departments to use professional safety assessments to direct limited resources where they are needed most. By aligning response times with immediate safety rather than age or disability alone, Virginia can improve compliance with response requirements and, more importantly, improve safety outcomes for children at greatest risk.
Thank you for your consideration of these comments.