Thetford contracts for a Social Services Coordinator

There have always been people in need, and there always will be. And in Vermont there have been various approaches to this perennial problem. Starting with a law in 1779 the state mandated that towns were responsible for caring for their residents. In the same session the lawmakers passed another law that allowed towns to withhold aid from anyone aspiring to become a resident who was “not of a quiet and peaceable behavior” or who, in the selectmen’s opinion, was likely to “be chargeable (i.e. become a financial burden) to such town.” Towns were required to warn such newcomers that they were not eligible for assistance, in a process known as "warning out." This process usually allotted a grace period of 30 days to leave town, though enforcement was variable.

This practice that the 1779 law put in place was not exactly new. Vermont was merely adopting the same law already followed by most towns in New England, which in turn was copied from laws in England from where many colonizers originated.

In 1801 VT legislators agreed that town selectmen had full authority to either accept new residents or send them packing. This sparked a flurry of warning-out activity as selectmen worked to reduce their town's liability for supporting the indigent. The legislature ended the practice of warning out in 1817. What ensued were struggles to assert that the indigent belonged in the next town or beyond, only to have those communities push back, claiming they were not legal residents of those towns either. 

At the local level, Thetford selectmen in 1792 instituted a system of bidding on the poor. The town reimbursed citizens who came forward with the least costly bids to provide poor families or individuals with "victuals, lodging, nursing, washing house room and firewood." However, in 1805 the town voted to allow the selectmen to warn out the poor, leading to 58 people being ordered to leave town over the next six years. Even so, caring for the poor accounted for over half of the town's expenses between 1810 and 1820. (See "A Short History of Thetford; Charles Latham; published by Thetford Historical Society.)

Evidently the problem of poverty was greater than could be met by "bidding out" and other forms of assistance. Thus the early 1800s saw the rise of an alternate approach, the establishment of "poor farms" in various communities where indigent people were put to work to the extent of their abilities. Their ranks included vagabonds, the disabled, mentally ill, and old. Historian Charles Latham noted that the Thetford poor farm continued to exist till 1880 and that its cellar holes "can still be seen on the abandoned road which runs from the Brooke house below Tucker Hill and the Hughes house on Sawney Bean." This location was consistent with the desire to keep the poor farms on back roads out of sight of townspeople. 

The establishment of a national social security system in 1935 provided for more humane options, at least for the elderly, and by the 1960s the federal government offered programs like food stamps, housing assistance, and Medicaid. The last poor farm in Vermont closed in 1968 following the Social Welfare Act of 1967 that terminated a town's right to operate a poor farm. 

Although things are a lot better now, the problem is by no means resolved. Thus many towns including Thetford still offer a local resource in the form of a Town Service Officer who has the job of assisting townspeople or transients in need of emergency financial assistance for food, fuel, transportation, clothing, or shelter. After the TSO has screened clients to determine they are eligible for Town emergency assistance she applies for money to the trustees of the Farm Trust. This trust was established by a private family to benefit the people of Thetford and is not financed by the  Town. The TSO's role is supposedly limited to the hours when the Vermont Economic Services Division is closed. The rest of the time clients should be referred directly to VECD.

While some rely on the Town Service Officer just once, there are others who make repeated requests for assistance, and who, for various reasons, are unable to follow up with the VECD where they would receive long-term help. In Thetford the Service Officer is a volunteer who must also hold down her own job and simply lacks the time to do the research to set up appropriate appointments with VECD. It doesn't stop there, because follow-up checks on clients are needed to determine if appointments were even kept, and making contact with clients can be hard. It's not uncommon for the Town police department to also be involved with these cases. 

This perennial problem has been mulled over by the selectboard and the Town Manager for some time. An initial idea to hire a Town social worker did not gain traction because of the burden of carrying another salary plus benefits, insurance etc. Instead the Town has negotiated a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) with the White River Council on Aging (WRCOA) that runs the Bugbee Senior Center in White River Junction to contract for a part-time Community Social Services Coordinator who would take on the workload of making referrals, monitoring clients, and more. This position will be for 10 hours a week. The Town will pay WRCOA $50 an hour towards covering the actual wages, benefits, etc. of the Coordinator. This cost will be split half and half between the Town and the independent Farm Trust. The Town's portion of $12,500 a year will appear as a line item in the municipal budget.

While some may raise their eyebrows at this, the Town in fact already contracts with non-Town organizations for several services, including those provided by the following 501(c)3 non-profit entities: Thetford Community Nurse, the Thetford Library Federation, Upper Valley Ambulance, the Thetford Volunteer Fire Department — a private organization since 1960 — and the Two Rivers Ottauquechee Regional Planning Commission. 

On November 4th the selectboard voted unanimously to approve the proposed MOU with the White River Council on Aging. The document will now go to the Town's attorney for final scrutiny. It is anticipated that the Community Social Services Coordinator will start in January 2025. One last wrinkle is that the Town Manager still needs to find a space from which they can operate.

Photo credit: Li Shen