UPDATE: Re-alignment of DHS County Offices Announced Last Year to be Complete by End of Summer

Department will continue to have at least one county office in every county in Arkansas.

(LITTLE ROCK, Ark.) — The Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) expects to complete the re-alignment of its county offices that it announced in November 2019 by the end of August 2020. As a result, the number of county offices will be reduced by four and two leases on office annexes will end.

“For the first time in many years we reviewed the DHS footprint and how many clients we were serving in each office,” said DHS Division of County Operations Director Mary Franklin said. “We found some opportunities to rethink how we were serving clients, and these changes are a big first step toward better meeting the needs of clients.”

The following changes have or will happen:

Sebastian County – Moved eight staff from an annex office to the main DHS county office the last week of January 2020, ending a lease

Baxter County – Moved three staff from an annex office into the main office the last week of January, ending a lease

Mississippi County – By June 12, the office in Osceola will close, and staff will shift to the Blytheville office.

Arkansas County – On June 19, the office in DeWitt will close, and staff will shift to the Stuttgart office.

Logan County – By the end of summer, the office in Booneville will close, and staff will shift to the Paris office. DHS will announce an exact date in the coming weeks.

Monroe County – By the end of summer, the office in Clarendon will close, and staff will shift to the Brinkley office. DHS will announce an exact date in the coming weeks.

Though four offices are closing, there is still at least one county office in each of the 75 counties in Arkansas.

The changes first announced in early November are the result of a several month review by DHS’s divisions of County Operations, Children and Family Services, Youth Services, Child Care and Early Childhood Education, Developmental Disabilities Services, Aging, Adult, and Behavioral Health Services as well as the offices of the Secretary, Finance, Information Technology, and Procurement. The goal of the review was to ensure that the location of county offices matches where clients or potential clients are located and to ensure DHS is operating efficiently.

The office moves are expected to reduce leasing and utility costs by $246,500 a year.

At this time, all the offices mentioned above remain open and available to clients. Clients in those areas will be notified in advance of the moves and where they need to go to seek assistance once the moves happen.

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