Charles County Department of Social Services

What Charles County Department of Social Services does

Charles County Department of Social Services (CCDSS) is the local-government social services authority for Charles County, Maryland, operating under the Maryland Department of Human Services (DHS). Headquartered in La Plata, Maryland, with approximately 41 employees, the agency delivers mandated child welfare and public benefit services to county residents. Core service lines include Child Protective Services, foster care, adoption, kinship care, and adult services, alongside administration of financial assistance programs such as SNAP, Temporary Cash Assistance (TCA), Medical Assistance (Medicaid), and energy assistance. The agency reports serving more than 5,000 children and supporting 3,000+ active families.

The agency's technology stack is built around web-based portals integrated with the statewide Maryland DHS infrastructure. The Resource Parent Portal provides foster, kinship, and prospective adoptive parents with access to training resources, forms, and support materials, and is supplemented by an external partnership with the Child Welfare Academy (CWAcademy) for online training and certification. Benefit applications are routed through the Maryland Unified Benefits Portal, providing a digital intake channel for multiple assistance programs. The agency recognizes Resource Parents of the Year on an ongoing basis (documented in 2018 and 2025), reinforcing foster family recruitment.

CCDSS is a government entity and does not operate a commercial business model; rather, it is funded through allocated county and state budgets as part of the Maryland DHS structure. There is no revenue disclosure, no private capital, and no pricing model. The agency's "customers" are Charles County residents eligible for statutorily defined services, with no commercial segmentation or sales motion. Geographic scope is limited to Charles County, and the agency functions within a regulated monopoly framework for social service delivery in its jurisdiction.

Name

Charles County Department of Social Services

Legal name

Charles County Department of Social Services

Website

https://charlescountydss.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Charles County Department of Social Services is a Maryland county government agency providing child welfare, foster care, adoption, and public benefit administration (SNAP, Medicaid, energy assistance) to Charles County residents under the Maryland Department of Human Services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Public Social Services

NAICS

Individual and Family Services (6241), Child and Youth Services (62411), Other Individual and Family Services (624190)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Child Welfare, Foster Care & Adoption Services (BPAGAEAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Family & Parenting Support Services (BPAGAEAC), Family & Child Benefits Administration (Child Allowance, Parental Leave) (BPAIAKAD)

Keywords

• Child welfare services
• Foster care programs
• Public assistance programs
• Family support services
• Child protective services

Headquarters

HQ city

La Plata

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others, Technology or R&D

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Charles County Department of Social Services is a county-level government agency that administers state-supervised public assistance and child welfare programs for residents of Charles County. It delivers Child Protective Services, Foster Care and Adoption, Family Investment/Financial Assistance (including Temporary Cash Assistance and Food Supplement Program/EBT), Child Support Enforcement, In-Home Family Services, and Adult Protective Services. The agency operates a dedicated online Resource Parent Portal to recruit and support foster and adoptive parents.

Product overview

The Charles County Department of Social Services offers a unified suite of social services programs rather than a traditional software product. The primary digital offering is the Resource Parent Portal, a web-based platform for foster and adoptive parents to access forms, training registration, and resources. Supporting service programs include Family Services (self-sufficiency assistance), Family Investment Administration (financial assistance programs), Child Support Services (support enforcement), Child Protective Services, and the Maryland Unified Benefits Portal for benefit applications. These programs are government social services rather than commercial technology products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Charles County Resource Parent Portal: A dedicated portal for resource (foster) parents to access training, forms, and resources for caring for children in foster care within Charles County.

Products and services

• Child Protective Services (CPS) Statutory child protective services program for Charles County that receives and investigates reports of suspected child abuse and neglect and provides intervention to ensure child safety.
• Foster Care and Adoption Services Recruitment, training, approval, and support of foster and adoptive parents for children in the custody of the Charles County Department of Social Services.
• Family Investment / Financial Assistance Programs Eligibility-based financial assistance including Temporary Cash Assistance, the Food Supplement Program (EBT), and Medical Assistance for income-eligible Charles County residents.
• Child Support Services Location, establishment, enforcement, and modification of child support orders for families receiving services from the Charles County Department of Social Services.
• Adult Protective Services Investigation and intervention in cases of suspected abuse, neglect, or exploitation of vulnerable adults residing in Charles County.
• Resource Parent Portal Standalone online portal operated by Charles County DSS that lets prospective resource (foster and adoptive) parents begin an application, access required training information, and connect with the agency.

Quantifiable outcome

• Served 5,000+ children and 3,000+ active families through foster care and resource parent programs

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and moderate.

• Child Welfare AcademycoreTechnology or IntegrationChild Welfare Academy is the primary online training platform for resource parent certification, providing virtual trauma-informed care sessions and in-person training. Majority of trainings are provided through this platform at theinstitute.ce21.com.
• National Resource Parent Association (NRPA)minorOthersNRPA is listed as a national partner resource on the CCDSS training page. It serves as the national voice of foster parents, offering resources and support for resource parents.
• Maryland Resource Parent Association (MRPA)minorOthersMRPA is listed as a state partner resource, supporting Maryland's resource families with state-specific advocacy and resources.
• National Training and Development Curriculum (NTDC)minorOthersNTDC is listed as a national training partner, providing comprehensive training resources for child welfare professionals and resource parents.
• Maryland Department of Human Services (DHS)coreOthersCCDSS is an agency of the State of Maryland under DHS. The agency refers clients to numerous state-level programs including SNAP, Medical Assistance, Child Support Services, Child Protective Services, Homeless Services, and others managed by Maryland DHS.
• Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG)moderateStrategic or Co-development PartnerCOG recognized the 2025 Foster Parents of the Year across the region including Charles County's Regena Greene. This is a regional intergovernmental coordination body that CCDSS participates in for best practices and recognition programs.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services: Larger Maryland county human services department delivering the same social services portfolio plus a wider health and behavioral health mandate, serving as a regional incumbent comparable that CCDSS could benchmark operations against.
• Fairfax County Department of Family Services: Northern Virginia county agency performing equivalent child welfare, foster care/adoption, financial assistance, and adult protective services functions in the same Washington metropolitan region, providing a regional benchmark.
• Baltimore County Department of Social Services: Large Maryland county DSS under the same DHS umbrella with comparable program breadth, used here as a reference point for operating model and resource parent program design at greater scale.

Direct peers

• Prince George's County Department of Social Services: Large Maryland county DSS within the same DHS system offering the identical program set (foster care, child support, financial assistance, adult services) at significantly greater scale, providing a useful scale-up benchmark for CCDSS.
• Calvert County Department of Social Services: Neighboring Maryland county DSS providing the same core suite of child welfare, foster care, financial assistance, and adult services under Maryland DHS oversight, making it the most direct functional and geographic comparable to CCDSS.
• St. Mary's County Department of Social Services: Southern Maryland county DSS operating under the same Maryland DHS framework with a similar mix of foster care, SNAP/TCA administration, child protective services, and adult services in a comparable suburban/rural county footprint.
• Anne Arundel County Department of Social Services: Maryland county DSS operating the same integrated child welfare and financial assistance programs under Maryland DHS in a county with similar suburban demographic profile to Charles County.

Others

• Charles County Government (Government Finance Office): Parent county government body that funds CCDSS and sets broader county policy; included as an ecosystem/funder peer that directly determines CCDSS's budget envelope and policy direction.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ccdss

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Charles County Department of Social Services