This story originally appeared in the Statehouse Spotlight newsletter published by Mountain State Spotlight. Get coverage of the legislative session delivered to your email inbox Monday – Thursday; sign up for the free newsletter at mountainstatespotlight.org/newsletter
Last week, a federal judge dismissed a years-long case aimed at fixing the failing foster care system in West Virginia.
U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin said the blame for long-standing problems with the system falls to the state government. He wrote, “When elected officials fail, the ballot box is the remedy.”
Earlier this year, a Mountain State Spotlight investigation described multiple problems with the system, including overreliance on sending kids to institutions, the understaffed CPS workforce and a lack of mental health help and financial assistance for families.
At the start of the legislative session, after months of study, a workgroup of lawmakers proposed draft bills picking away at the edges of the crisis. But during this ongoing session, they have the chance to pass laws aimed at significant challenges right now.
Here are some ways they could help:
- Dedicate funding to hire more child protective services workers.
For years, the state hasn’t employed enough of these workers, meaning they can’t perform the mandated monthly visits to ensure kids are safe and supported.
Jaycie Bias, executive director of the WV Foster, Adoptive & Kinship Parents Network, noted that it takes regular communication with someone to feel comfortable disclosing personal problems.
“They teach us in social work school, you need to meet the client where they are,” she said.
Gov. Patrick Morrisey, in a budget proposal that rarely seeks additional funding even for urgent needs, asked lawmakers to provide new money for case workers. But, his $3 million proposal is less than a third of what the agency said it needed for 131 new workers.
- Make CPS workers responsible for fewer cases.
Currently, CPS workers are supposed to be assigned a maximum number of 10 cases, based on family size, not number of children.
Considering one case to be one child would allow them to spend more time on investigations and connect families with the assistance they need to care for kids.
Former CPS worker Kathie Giboney worked for more than four years in the district that covers Pleasants, Ritchie and Doddridge counties.
When she quit in August, she had about 30 cases on her plate.
She cried on her way home from work each day, knowing she couldn’t dedicate the time needed to each child.
- Make kinship families eligible more quickly for foster care subsidies.
Kinship families are relatives or people with existing relationships with children who’ve been removed from their parents.
Many abused or neglected kids are dropped off with them in emergency situations without notice. They get no ongoing support money from the state until they have gone through a lengthy certification process.
Foster families have been trained on helping traumatized children, prepared their homes and are immediately eligible for foster care financial assistance.
Department of Human Services workers could follow a one-day process for rapid certification, consisting of relative background checks and searching for criminal convictions, assessment of the relatives’ caregiving abilities and home safety evaluation.
- Expand and fully fund the state’s Healthy Grandfamilies program.
This program offers training and support groups for grandfamilies dealing with the concern that they failed at parenting and new stressors that come with raising a hurting child, in an age with rapidly changing technology they may need help navigating.
But many counties lack this program. Places where it is successful rely on local financial support,
In Utah, a similar grandfamilies program, which receives state funding and nonprofit support, is able to offer additional services, such as teen support groups, weekly check-ins with families and therapy by collaborating with numerous support organizations and nonprofits.
- Offer incentives for students to train in mental health careers.
Mountain State Spotlight found that the state sends kids to institutions in part because mental health care is hard to access for many West Virginians.
To prevent kids from being sent to facilities, lawmakers could revise a currently-moving bill to encourage more college students to pursue mental health careers in the state.
One bill pending right now creates a fund to repay college tuition for a limited number of mental health professionals, who practice in the state. If the bill were modified to also pay tuition up front, more students could pursue mental health careers.
