State taking over child welfare services a second time in Bertie County

RALEIGH, N.C. (WITN) - The state is taking over child welfare services in Bertie County for a second time after a child death late last year.

Effective tomorrow, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services will assume responsibility for child services at Bertie County DSS.

In 2022, the state took over the county’s child welfare services because of major concerns it found. That lasted about two years.

The state says it began looking at child welfare services in the county in December after the death of a child previously involved with DSS. DHHS says its concerns were magnified after looking into how the county operated child welfare services.

DHHS staff will be on site during this interim period, working closely with county staff to manage and stabilize child welfare services, according to a news release.

This is the fifth time the state has taken over a county’s DSS, and the first time a county DSS has been taken over twice.