Is there a Department of Social Services in every state?

While not every state has an agency known as the Department of Social Services, each state has one or more agencies tasked with delivering some sort of social service. Medicaid, for example, is a state-administered program, and therefore each state has an agency tasked with running it.

Another state-administered social service program is Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. The agencies responsible for administering Medicaid and TANF are known as the Department of Social Services in some states, such as Connecticut. In other states, health service departments are the agencies responsible. Information regarding the parties responsible for administering these two key social service programs is kept by the American Public Human Services Association and is accessible online at APHSA.org.