Nelson County Social Services Under Fire | Richmond News

Richmond News Today | 2 Min News | The Daily News Now! · Jul 17, 2026 · 2m

Nelson County’s child welfare system is under fire after a year of scrutiny, revealing critical failures in following the state’s Structured Decision Making guidelines — a tool meant to ensure consistent, safe responses to child safety referrals. With five of thirty-two statewide investigations targeting Nelson County, officials are sounding alarms about systemic issues in rural agencies, where understaffing and crushing workloads force social workers into high-stakes decisions with little support. The real culprit? A pay gap that makes it nearly impossible to attract or retain qualified…