RICHMOND, Va. — A new Virginia legislative report has raised questions about initiatives Gov. Terry McAuliffe is championing, including a state program for military veterans and families that they say may be relying on staff who are not properly trained or certified to manage behavioral health care.
Discussing its December report Monday, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission took specific aim at the Virginia Veteran and Family Support program, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports.
According to the report, the program has 35 staff members across the state who are carrying out some services they might not be certified to perform. The program was created in 2008 as the Virginia Wounded Warrior Program to coordinate care for military veterans returning from battlefronts with brain injuries, post-traumatic stress, and serious depression.
John L. Newby II, who became commissioner of the Department of Veterans Services more than a year ago, said his agency has been working with state mental health and community services board officials to devise a plan for reorganizing the program by the time the General Assembly convenes on Jan. 13.
In contrast to its concerns about the wounded-warrior program, the 102-page report praised the state for improving its process for approving veterans’ benefits. The report also urged the department to do a better job of monitoring wait times at over-extended offices, particularly one in Richmond that is handling three times the median state workload.
McAuliffe already has announced $13 million for veterans services, included in the two-year budget he will propose Thursday, but House Appropriations Chairman S. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, cautioned against committing additional state budget resources to veterans services until concerns about existing programs are addressed.
“It was a very sobering report,” Jones said. “Before we want to do anything additional we want to make sure the resources that are allocated are being spent as intended.”
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