Ive been trying to contact the office to get a call and apparently they never answer the phone. There office hours are wrong and havent updated them and going to the office is useless because no one is there. They are quick to decline your benefits and wont get in contact with even though you left a voicemail. Ive been trying to apply for benefits since December and havent heard back from the office until late January stating Ive been denied via mail. This place is useless.

I was never supposed to recertify through social services because of covid per the letter they sent out in March, the 1st time I see the security guard in public he better RUN RUN LIKE FOREST, as for the rest of this department they could care less about anyone or anything but themselves there alla bunch of jerks

They sent me a redetermination packet told me to fill it out and send it back via email,So that’s what I did. Now of course a week later the close my food stamps case, saying that they didn’t receive packet. So I had to reapply ONLINE ok. After that they sent me an email about a schedule phone interview between 10am-12pm. They never even called EVER. I have sent them 3 emails called multiple times NO ONE EVER ANSWERS the phone. I even called the customer service number was on hold for 1hour and 40 minutes of course they never picked up either!!!!Very SAD!

They never ever answer the phone!!! They are unprofessional and us quick to decline your benefits even if it there fault. They never get back to you within 24 to 48 hours causing delays and unnecessary confusion.

My case worker asked me to send in pay stubs. I told her she would have them before 4 February 19. I emailed them to her and then went online and attached them to my file. Ive been called here since 2:48 play til close and no one answered. So I decided to wait until the next morning Ive been calling this place for hours and no one ever picks up to direct you to where your trying to go. One day i came in and decided to call while I was waiting for help. The girls (women do their job) at the desk just sat there and will pick up the phone and put the customer right on hold and kept talking among themselves. Horrible place really need new workers they are so lazy. Its your job do the work or go somewhere else. That simple.. Horrible staff

Never can get hold of anyoneYou will call waisting your time because no one is going to answer

All I see is a bunch of women complaining about the services here.. Its 2020, I dont know who in there right mind is still depending on The Dept of Soc Serv for Food, TCA. medical assistance, rent assistance? I hated this place so much that I worked my but off to get off of all services that I was receiving.. I received: Cash, food stamps, medical assistance, childcare vouchers and I had a section 8 voucher.. I was so embarrassed sitting there telling these workers all of my business and every 3 to 6 months having to complete a redetermination packet.. I said enough is enough! I searched every job board that I could find.. I finally found a job working as a receptionist at a hospital that was starting off paying $25.00 per hour.. oh I have 1 minor child (boy) I stepped out on faith.. The 1st thing I did was walked away from my section 8 voucher.. I found a 2 bdrm apt for my son and I.. next I terminated all benefits from The Dept of Soc Serv..NO CASH.. NO FOOD STAMPS.. NO MEDICAL ASSISTANCE OR CHILD CARE VOUCHERS.. I had insurance through my new job.. This was the best feeling ever! I BECAME 100% INDEPENDENT! not depending on the govr for anything anymore.. I was even able to save up to purchase my 1st home.. If I can do this ladies anyone of you can do it.. This is an inspiration to you beautiful sisters .. Get motivated.. Push yourself.. stop allowing the system to run your life.. Peace & good luck!Sincerely,X- recipient

They never answer their phone calls or return your calls when you leave voice messages or even emails.When I first applied I kept giving them all the required proof and they always denied me saying they never received the documents. Took me about 5-6 months dealing with them to finally to get my case. Now when It was time to re certify I came to my appt, brought the Proof they required only to receive a letter a few weeks later that they are canceling my case for not attending my appointment. I went again to speak to someone about this and they told me I was fine, only to receive a notice again that my case was canceled for not bringing in proof for re certification.?? They are usually nice when I go but they just very un organized. They always forget to put your paperwork in the system or tend to loose it.

I applied for FS I was approved for a whopping $37.00 I told the young lady I didn’t have a card since i haven’t applied since 2016 she said ok they will send one in 7-10 business days..fast forward 2 months later still no card I’ve left so many messages and none of my calls have been returned. What type of establishment just don’t answer at all but surely will send a congratulations letter on my new job. This place sucks I can’t believe this is Howard County this place is trash!

Have tried all week to call about recertification and theres no person who answers any line so I try to leave a message and it hangs up before you leave a name or number. I cant get through!!! Really good service. Thanks

Absolutely the worst experience Ive ever had with any business! They dont return phone calls or make any attempts to rectify important issues! They keep sending you back to the 800 number and they put in work orders and call you back days later. Theyve been owing me back child support for 3 months. If it was the other way around, my license would be suspended, or worse, incarcerated!

It is a small place and pretty crowded and it can take an hour for them to get to you. But if you come first thing in the morning, usually things go a little quicker. They do have a lot of cases to deal with and so you just have to have your questions lined up ahead of time. If you ask to see a counselor then you can go back into the office with them and then they can really talk to you and you can have a good productive conversation. I think the people there are pretty knowledgeable and want to help but are limited by the resources theyve been given. If you go in with an attitude of gratitude, and are positive they really appreciate that and respond.

On my last visit, I was just turning from verifying documents and it was just an in and out trip and they actually came up with a system to assure a time & date stamp as to when you turned the document in. Im just mentioning it because the previous time I turned in all the necessary documents and they had no way of providing me a receipt. In addition to that they had lost my documents and I had to go in again. So, Im glad theyre making the necessary improvements for client service. Also, I noticed new front end staff that are more efficient and friendlier than my last.

My son had an appointment. I called and left over 8 messages to inform them that he was not able to attend. They NEVER returned any calls and had the nerve to send a letter stating that not only did his miss his appointment, but that he NEVER called. That goodness I documented every message with the date and I and sent a FAX with all the notes I made, still never heard back from them.

I only gave them one star cause I couldn’t give them ZERO! The employees absolutely don’t know what there doing. What’s the point of having a “case manager” if your NEVER able to get in contact with them? You comply with their rule BUT they can’t even complete a application in the required 30 DAYS. You will wait forever for benefits messing around with these people!

I submitted an app online. It took a month for them to send a DENIAL. I called the office to request a reason. No answered calls or returned message. It is very discouraging that you can’t speak to a live person. Unacceptable service.

Be prepared to wait at least an hour or two. I went for a child support issue and waited approximately an hour or so to be told they could not help me and I had to go to my previous county of residence to resolve the case. So I had to wait about an hour to be told I had to drive 2.5 hours to resolve my matter. If they wouldve just answered the phone this couldve all been resolved easily. However, the lady helping me was pleasant and apologetic hence why Im giving them a 2 rating. When I went to my home DSS they had a much better system and a shorter wait time! I just expected so much more from Howard County.

Once you start your application online dont bother to check on the status because no one answers the phone nor do they call you back or return emails.They make it impossible for you to recieve benefits if you have any questions about the application.They havent sent me a letter or called about setting up an appointment for the food assistance application to collect my paperwork.They are the opposite of helpful here.

If I could rate this office anything lower than one star, I would. This office does not care about children, they only care about money. They treat every person like a deadbeat regardless of the situation. The people working in this office must be underpaid and overworked, which is no excuse for the amount of attitude and abuse of power the people in this office give. Record keeping in this office is horrible and every worker that I have spoken to is rude and unprofessional. I have overpaid support for over a year, which the office stopped however, they will not return the overpaid amount. That is fraud. This office couldnt care less about fixing this situation. They pass you around from person to person only to get hung up on in the end. They do nothing to help you other than telling you someone from the office will call you back, which NEVER happens. Keep all of your records when dealing with this office as they do not keep up with their own. This office does not follow the law, which is unaccecptable and they really should be fined for abusing the law.

Very unhelpful. Always getting the processing incorrect. Always discriminatory with who comes in. So called minoritor

Ive had it with this place. I keep getting harassed by them based on hearsay from disgruntled family members whom I never see and live hours away. There is no evidence of abuse or neglect. But Ive heard so many horror stories about CPS that Im honestly terrified of losing my children.The first time we spoke with a social worker (Octavia) over the phone, she became extremely hostile when we politely asked for time to speak with a lawyer before meeting with her first, which is our CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT. CPS considers themselves above the law, apparently.She threatened to mark us as uncooperative when we kept stating we fully intended to cooperate, we just wanted to review our rights and have our own advocate. It takes time to find a lawyer and we arentrich, so she de ided to escalate our alt response plan to a to a full investigation.Oh, and she offered to let us speak to her supervisor but we only got a call from a cell number, who couldve been anyone. It was absurd.She also kept pulling our kids out of school THREE times for interviews, which made my 13 year old daughter miss her lunch and my son miss his first field day and favorite classes. My 6 year old son even started seeing demons. She had the nerve to laugh in my childs face over a fear that is very real to him, however silly it may seem silly to her, while shes terrified of cats. He also started having nightmares shortly after she began her interviews, and his teacher could sense his reluctance to go speak with her whenever she pulled him out of class. His teacher was so worried that she contacted us and wanted to make sure we were aware.Tell me, DSS, how can you claim to care about children when you constantly interrupt their education, terrify them, and often put them into a system that abuses them or even causes their death? How do you sleep at night? And although you claim to be there to help, theres always a punitivie threat hanging over the family if we dont want to participate in something. Sadly, you believe you are above the law, often get away with it, and its sickening.Youre guilty until proven innocent here at CPS. My advice to other parents: If you can afford it, get a lawyer, record everything, and know your rights. Do not let them in your house without a warrant. And record everything. They are not your friends.

As a retired State of Maryland Employee, I now can relate to being on both sides. However, there is no reason what so ever to treat people the way these DSS workers do! From providing false information to the public and being plain out rude and disrespectful is UNACCEPTABLE. I truly understand the frustration of the job, you all should be ASHAMED of yourselves and think that if the people of Maryland didnt need your help, you wouldnt have this job!Do Better! Be better, cause you never know when you maybe on the otherside!

Tried calling for days then someone finally picks up! Too good to be true?! yes, b/c as soon as I said hello, they hung up! I think they were making an outgoing call and picked up my call by accident. A complete Joke. My brother has to take time off work just to go there to ask a simple question for our parents. Minimum wait time?? 1-2 hours!! Try to complain and they will put you in your place.I am writing the HONEST TRUTH.

The number which they put in the door is not use full i was trying all day to talk with the customer help no one answered my call , also it says when you want to receive a call back I select that option no one call me back poooooooooooor customer services

The people are very nice and truthful and helpful. God bless them let the joy of the lord be with them. Peace

Coming from Baltimore city/ Baltimore Co. i was very hopeful that Howard Co. DSS would be more professional and diligent, Boy was i wrong . My case is a total mess and No one i really mean NO ONE returns your phone call .. they say they will call you in 2 days and here is 10 days an multiple messages later and Im still waiting. Im so upset.

Every time I call no one picks up the phone and automated voice message just tells me to leave my name and number so someone can return my call. Of course, no one returns my call. Ridiculous.

There response time is trouble and very unorganized.

Social worker Jessica is awesome!!! She helped by walking me through the process for Child Support. Everyone is pleasant and graceful

Sitting in the lobby of the new location. ITS NO LONGER AT COLUMBIA GATEWAY DR, THEY HAVE RELOCATED BUT GOD FORBID THEY PUT THAT ON THE LATE AS HECK PAPERWORK THEY SEND YOU!!My redetermination paper told me to go to the Columbia Gateway office for an 11am appt. First off, the papers were printed on 2/19/19, didnt receive them till barely a week before my scheduled appt. I arrive at the old office and all you see is a cardboard sign that theyve moved. Thankfully a decent human being was good enough to take me with her to the new office as we both had appointments. We get there and there are people who have been waiting 2 1/2 hrs past their scheduled appointment time who also were told to go to the wrong building!!!How hard is it to get your information correct and get people processed quickly? People take time out of their days and cant be spending 4 to 5hrs waiting on an appointment you cant keep.Cant get an actual human to pick up the damn phone when anyone calls. Been passed around from case worker to case worker but yet, never even talked to any of these people, I have to call the actual Maryland Dept of Human Services to speak to ANYONE about anything. Scheduled phone interview after interview but of course, no one calls. Why? Because they dialed the wrong number which is funny because its correct literally EVERYWHERE IN MY INFO ON MY APPLICATION!!!Work order to change number to get the interview but nothing and apparently now my case is closed because I failed to submit necessary paperworkbut yet I have proof I sent it in, both by email and by regular mail. 😒😒😒This office fails. Wonder how theyll fare when the Governors office starts looking into things...

Its as if no one here cares about doing their jobs. The employees here are without a doubt some of the most uninformed, juvenile, lazy, irresponsible, good for nothings! Please consider hiring people that know how to do their jobs without any attitudes.

Except for the people working in Child Protective Services (I have had VERY good experiences with them. Thank you for the hard work you do!) ... I TOTALLY agree with ALL the prior complaints about the Child Support portion of the Dept. My husband and I have had to work with SS for 10 years now for my step-daughters child support payments. Getting ANY knowledgeable person on the phone OR in person on your first attempt is IMPOSSIBLE!!! In this day and age, WHY must you come to the office to do things that are EASILY verifiable on-line or over the phone?????? We are two working parents trying to provide for 5 children,and that is a little hard to do when you have to take off from work to complete the simplest of tasks!!!! PLEASE improve the public-facing aspect of HC Social Services!

My daughters mother, who currently has residential custody, recently passed away. Im trying to get information on what I need to do to get all the legal aspects of my, now full custody, covered. Nobody answers the phone. The phone tree doesnt work. I called resources and they transferred me right back to the useless phone tree without letting me finish my sentence. Theyre quick to hunt me down when I change jobs though. Useless department and incompetent employees.

No accountability. I have been requesting a correction on my case since this past summer. I ve requested call back after call back from my child support caseworker to no avail. I called again in DECEMBER 2016 requested a call back. Due to MD transferring my case from another state without including the $18,000 of delinquent support to this balance of this transferred case. Thats right!! THEY started the case at a ZERO owed balanced!!! This was after it took them approx. five months to get a transferred case open and able to accept payments. I called back again the beginning of Feb and requested a call back from she, and her manager. NO RESPONSE. Last week I went into the office at 815am and waited for her to come in (apparently they dont actually come in until 830 not 8 am like their hours state) . I waited 30 minutes(with 2 young children one of which is Autistic) to be told my case worker wasnt OPTING to seeing anyone util noon or later. At that point I requested to see her manager, nope she wasnt taking clients either...the director? Not in the office that day.... any other case worker??? Nope no one was available.. Absolute mind blowing incompetence and unaccountably. At that point I filed a complaint and requested a call back from her manager AND the director of the department and a week later no one has returned my call. I have NEVER dealt with this type of cumulative widespread incompetence in my life.

Child Support services in Maryland are just wretched, particularly for Fathers and these people in this office are on the same low standard. The entire CS system in MD needs to be re-worked from top to bottom.

If i could just a half star or no stars i would. These people never answer their phone line. Like people have jobs too and would like to get to someone on the phone so we dont have to miss a work day because of it. They send out paper work and then send another letter saying you did not mail it in. This place is HORRIBLE. I hate going in there way too many people and the staff looks like they can care less about you.

Terribly slow and disorganized when you go in. You spend days to weeks on the phone trying to reach someone or even receive a call back. Emailing them is just as disorganized and slow. You will get tossed around from case worker to case worker. This is one of the worst establishments I have ever been to in my life. I am not being facetious. One of the worst!

They mail you that they will call you. Instead they call out in office. Then after doing a interview after bringing it to their attention that they messed upschedule appt with no notice sent to a different apt number too. Then submit all info which was a deposit they can see last paycheck. Still nothing. Nobody does their job and walk around all smiles destroying peoples lives.

The Howard County Department of Social Services workers are so rude and unpleasant. The disorganization is horrible and the majority of the workers dont want to see their clients. I know there is lot of paperwork involved and they are over whelmed but, they should be sensitive to the needs of others.

Was made to feel less than human.

They never answer the phone. When they do, they transfer me to another phone that no one answers. I leave messages with no response.

You cant get in touch with anyone and they suspend people license when they clearly are paying childsupport.

TERRIBLE!!!!! The county government needs to wake up and realize the need is growing too fast and they need to HIRE NOT JUST MORE BODIES, BUT QUALIFIED PEOPLE!! No one answers the phone, no one calls back! and they dont let you know any thing except in a form letter which is usually wrong!!!

Really inept. Get contradictory information from different employees on what needs to be done to get benefits. The one time in my life I could use some help, I have nothing but one runaround after another. Reminds me of the VA.

If there is a zero rating I would rate them that. They lost my applications a couple of times which I really dont understand how can you lose an application that submitted in their office on their own computer

Unorganized!!! Im so sick and tired of not being able to talk to a case worker OR SUPERVISOR ! Nobody ever returns your calls! Ive been dealing with an open case for 3 months now they keep placing someone on my case that is unknown. I have no idea who it is and I keep getting denied for it. After countless complaints , going there 3 times a week for the same problem. And here I am 3 months later thinking shes off my case and LOW AND BEHOLD shes still on there . If I could give ZERO stars I would. Im so SICK AND TIRED of this place!!!!!!!

Maybe they should hire the people who receive the benefits! They would do a WAY BETTER JOB than the people who actually work there. There are a handful that actually do their job but everyone else I dont understand the need for them! Can anyone tell me why Im still waiting for benefits after FOUR MONTHS! did EVERYTHING on my end and yet I have made it all the way to the APPEAL stage which is the FINAL result because people dont want to work for their pay! Its RIDICULOUS! I pray for you all who have to deal with this office!UPDATE 12/29/20 COVID-19 PANDEMIC ! People without food!They need to just close this branch for good. I understand that COVID-19 has been really hard on people, but understand that this review comes from how they handled people before COVID-19 and their lack of step up with a pandemic! I was due for recertification in September. Recieved paperwork for recertification in the mail AFTER the due date. Submitted documentation in person at the branch drop box. Case is closed in September. I wait to give them time to catch up. October comes I’m calling, speaking to CS. They tell me that my case was closed but they recieved the information and it’s being processed. They can put in a work order and in 10 days I will receive some type of correspondence from the office. Wait 3 weeks towards the end of October. Call back and I’m told the documents are in the system but nobody has done anything with it. Another work order is put in. I call back at that point I’m told I need to fill out a whole new application. I do that thinking ok they will fix my case. Nope! They throw away my information from my recertification which is the EXACT same information I provided form my new application. Guess what? They wanted me to resubmit the SAME INFORMATION. I received snap at the beginning of November , I’m thinking they fix my case. Oh no that was just emergency snap and I have documents I have to send it. Of course another notice doesn’t come until after the due date AGAIN! so I upload the documents this time on the date my case was due to close 11/30/20. By the time I woke up my case was closed! If DHS is saying they know that mail is behind and the pandemic then why are you cutting people benefits off? You think people want to have to ask for help?! If they had moved that fast during my recertification process none of this would be happening! Quick to turn people off but slow to fix their mistakes! This office has always had this problem! You had to do face to face to get anything fixed and now that you can’t do that they just careless. After 10 work orders, a request for a scheduled interview, three different applications. Today I am being told I have to submit a whole new application AGAIN! with documentation! Seriously?!!! From September-December has been unbelievable! They really need to just hire a whole new staff and start over from the bottom up. Everyone is going through something. People have lost jobs, loved ones, etc and the place that’s suppose to help is just taking their time to do anything! I wish I could give ZERO STARS!

I just got tranferred here, and they got me fired from my job..they called my job talking bout some froms and my supervisor fired me, im pissed.now im gotta go get assistance from them

I applied for a month, and also called us, and went to the office after the last month, saying that we did not apply at all？？？

My QMB application for approved in December 2014. The notification was sent to SSI but still an amount of $ 104.90 are being deducted. I tried every avenue but no result.

These people run around with chips on their shoulders. They do no follow-up on verifying whether or not a child is eligible for health coverage. They take the word of the mother and move on. I on the other hand have to prove every GD thing with them. Ignorant, ignorant people.

Tough job

I waited almost 4 hours before I had to get up and walk out. The center is small, and having an appt means nothing.

The people that work there are sexist against men and are absolutely the most rude and evil people on earth ...they should all be fired and locked up!!!!! the worst experience of my life and they cannot answer phones or do anything right by far the dumbest most out of touch people on earth work here.

I pay all of my child support on time and they still suspended my drivers license. Family services my ass.

The Howard County Department of Social Services workers are so rude and unpleasant. The case managers are so rude they never help you anything.. this place deserves zero stars I had no choice but to give one star

Unbelievable!! Been calling for going on 2 weeks now !! left several messages with case worker and front desk NO REPLY! But when you needed my info I sent it right away !!!

The agents never there, they take one hour break and never answer phone. Just called at 8am and nobody is there.

Social service cut me off with state medicare and medicaid back to SSA take out of my check. I was pisses off. I had to get this straighten out ASAP to solve my situation.

Worse social service ever I dont know why they have phones they never answer them .every time I do recon for the little bit of stamps I do get I always gotta go back because they did something wrong .moved here from Baltimore where there if you call a supervisor you can get one but how does Howard county never have a supervisor available .point is they need to hire all new staff put a supervisor or supervisors in place to put some things in order .oh and its more of a fashion show than anything else.

Howard County Department of Social Service has the worst service and lack of assistance I ever received. Unprofessional and they will lie right to your face. Beware!

They want u to work but cant be seen in a timely manner to get to work on time

This place is ridiculous they need to be shut down had to give 1 star cant post 0 star

Call back in 48 hours my butt its a shame that you cant talk to anyone I just need my stuff transferred from another state I really need my medical

Well maintained!

INCOMPETENT UNPROFESSIONAL RUDE CLUELESSEVERYONE NEEDS TO BE FIRED TOTAL IDIOTSSUPERVISOR MUST BE THE PRESIDENT OF THE US BECAUSE YOU CAN NEVER SEE HEAR OR TALK TO HIM..STARTING TO THINK IS HE EVEN THERE,THIS PLACE NEEDS HELP ASAP

One or Two is a fair rating for them

The staff is very rude

Worst place Ive ever dealt with.The case worker was suppose to fax my letter stating Ive been cancelled to the Texas off, all I hear was after lunch then before 5.Texas still hasnt received it!Most incompetent people I ever dealt with!

Indescribably horrible people working.

Horrible