Mission Statement
New Hanover County Department of Social Services exists to alleviate emotional and economic distress among the people of the county. Providing a variety of basic and essential services, the New Hanover County Department of Social Services seeks to assist and protect our most vulnerable citizens -- the poor, the children, the aged, the disabled, and the sick -- and to enhance and maintain the quality of life in our community.

It is the goal of the New Hanover County Department of Social Services to create and sustain a public agency which is:

• Professionally responsive to all clients and sensitive to the uniqueness of each client's problems and needs;

• Valued by our community and publicly accountable for the effective and efficient management of the public's funds;

• Professionally stimulating, rewarding and satisfying to our employees; and

• Creatively adaptive to changing demands, laws and regulations without losing sight of our role as an advocate for the vulnerable people in our community and our concern for the plight of the individual client.