ABSTRACT
The chief industries of Prairie County have always been based in agriculture and mining. Agri-business has remained fairly stable over the years, providing adequate employment opportunities and a comfortable pastoral culture. Prairie County’s towns are fairly small but viable and pleasant. Prairie County’s social services subsystem is comprised mainly of small non-profit and for-profit service providers who contract with the local Department of Social Services (DSS) field office to take out-of-home placements of children and provide family services such as care of infants, anger management, and family counseling. The DSS office is structured around three main functions, with a supervisor overseeing each one. These are: benefit services, eight child protection and family services. The DSS field administration director, Dan Oglesby, almost always sides with Webb in such disputes, and field office employees have suffered retribution in the aftermath.
