Senate Joint Resolution No. 138 of the 1975 session of the General Assembly directed ·the State Department of Welfare to develop a State plan for providing social services to aging persons in the Commonwealth. This plan is to include homemaker services, is to provide for appropriate utilization of funds available from the Social Security Act, and is to be submitted to the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare.

Senate Joint Resolution No.138 was drafted prior to and passed by the General Assembly only shortly after the passage of Title XX of the Social Security Act. Title XX significantly changed the planning for and the delivery of social services to the citizens of Virginia, including the aged population. Therefore, a State plan for social services for the aged is not specifically required of each State for submission to the Department of Health Education and Welfare. Instead, a total social services plan for the entire State, with extensive public participation and comment on the local level has been developed and published for the period from October 1, 1975 to June 30, 1976.

While social services to the aged are not delineated in the Title XX plan, the Department of Welfare has recognized the intent of Senate Joint Resolution No. 138. Therefore, the Department has prepared this report to give a detailed overview of its activities relative to providing social services to the aged. A major part of this effort has been spent in drawing from the Title XX plan all services in each geographic area of the State which will be available to persons aged 65 and over. This effort has resulted.in data which is enclosed in this report and which identifies all aged persons and related expenditures projected for selected social services thought to be utilized by the elderly from October 1, 1975 to June 30, 1976. While these data elements are estimates based on the information submitted to the Department from every political jurisdiction in Virginia, the Department feels that they represent the most accurate data available at this time. Only upon the development of a complete automated statewide social services information system and long-term experience with the implementation of the Title XX Plan will specific data identifying aged recipients of social services in Virginia be available.

This report is organized as follows:

Section I Approaches of the State Department of Welfare to Providing Social Services to the Aged

Section II Impact of Title XX on Social Services for the Aged

Section III Methodology and Summary of Social Services to the Aged

Appendix I Title XX Definitions of Social Services Available to the Aged

Appendix II Title XX Geographic Areas and the Political Jurisdictions they Encompass

Appendix III Projected Number of and Expenditures for Social Services Provided to Aged Persons by Geographic Area

Acknowledgement is made of Department of Welfare staff in its Divisions of Social Services and Administration who have contributed their time, effort and guidance to make this report possible. It is also important to recognize the thousands of persons through the Commonwealth of Virginia, without whose participation the Title XX plan could not have been prepared and without whom social services to the aged would not be possible.