A number of bills aimed at improving the state’s foster care crisis are advancing in the House and Senate, including a measure that seeks to improve the preventative services to keep more children from coming into the overwhelmed system.
“I think we just gotta break this cycle. We can’t continue to have thousands and thousands of kids being raised by the state of West Virginia,” Mark Drennan, vice president for the National Youth Advocate Program, told members of the Senate Health Committee on Tuesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Senate Democrats held a press conference earlier that day, saying foster care reform is a top priority for the two of them this session. They said the Republican supermajority must increase the state’s financial investment in child welfare.
“I’m focused mainly on our foster care crisis, which has gone on for too many years,” Senate Minority Leader Mike Woelfel said. “I call on the Senate President Randy Smith to appoint an ad hoc committee right away to address the crisis of our foster children.”
There are around 6,000 children in West Virginia foster care, and thousands more children coming into contact with the child welfare system every year. State lawmakers have struggled for years to improve the foster care system and address high Child Protective Services case loads, a lack of safe homes for children and other problems.
A child in West Virginia foster care was recently injured while living in an Airbnb short-term rental property after the state placed the minor there because of the lack of foster homes and treatment beds available for foster children.
Woelfel, D-Cabell, and Sen. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, laid out a plan to reporters to tackle the foster care crisis, including requiring CPS to launch a formal investigation or conduct family assessments based on the severity of the child abuse and neglect allegations.
“[There] needs to be an increase in funding for additional CPS workers,” Woelfel said. “The health and safety of the least among us, which are the foster children, should be a primary focus.”
While the governor’s proposed budget requested an $11 million increase for foster care, Senate Democrats say it’s not enough, and said it should be $20 million to increase in-state placements for children, support nonprofits helping foster children and more.
Garcia said that the estimated $125 million price tag for the governor’s proposed 5% tax cut should instead be used to increase funding for foster care.
“We think it’s something we can really do,” Garcia said. “We can actually reduce the number of people in foster care … Twenty-five kids are in hotels, Airbnbs. Let’s make that number zero. That’s something we can get done right now.”
Sen. Vince Deeds, R-Greenbrier, has led the charge on the Senate’s foster care reform bills. He was “excited about” child welfare being a priority for the Senate’s Democratic members.
“I think it is so important that all of us collaborate and make the best ideas possible,” Deeds said. “Children and citizens are at the center of their conversations every day. I think having their input will be critical.”
Senate, House committees advance foster care bills; some will need funding
The Senate Health Committee approved two foster care bills on Tuesday, including Senate Bill 436 that would require the Department of Human Services to develop a statewide prevention plan in an effort to reduce the number of children coming into care. West Virginia has for years led the nation in the rate of children coming into foster care.
The prevention services would be offered to children who are at risk of entering foster care or already involved in a CPS case, pregnant and parenting youth and children aging out of foster care after their 21st birthday.
“I think it’s really crucial that we look at that situation and really try to do a lot of prevention,” Drennan said. “I think we need support for foster parents, for kinship placements, for grandparents and parents.”
Deeds, who sponsored the measure along with Garcia, said that the DoHS was already doing some preventive efforts in foster care, and this would expand those efforts. The bill would mandate that the department collect information about preventive services and share it with lawmakers so they can make better decisions about the child welfare system.
“So we can make improvements within the department for those young people who may have made contact with the department but don’t need the full gamut of human services care. The preventive measures are so they can stay out of the system,” Deeds explained.
The Senate Health Committee approved Senate Bill 228, sponsored by Deeds and Woelfel, would require DoHS to implement a pilot project in two counties where they’d use mobile device to assist CPS workers in child abuse and neglect investigations. It would reduce the need for a CPS worker to input data manually into a system and potentially help with reducing the time spent on paperwork.
The pair of foster care bills now goes to the Senate Finance Committee for consideration. Deeds estimated the prevention care bill would cost around $45,000. There isn’t yet a cost estimate for the other measure involving mobile devices for CPS workers.
In the House, members of the Committee on Health advanced several of their own foster care measures Tuesday, including their version of the prevention plan bill.
They committee advanced legislation that would change the state’s clothing voucher program for foster children. The program currently provides a $375 voucher for families to use only at Gabe’s, a discount chain store that has limited locations in West Virginia.
“It all has to be spent at one time,” said bill sponsor Del. Adam Burkhammer, R-Lewis, a foster parent. “You are limited to what is inside Gabe’s, so let’s say if you got an infant and they needed bottles, you wouldn’t be able to purchase those bottles or car seats or whatever other necessities that you might need.”
His bill, House Bill 4354, would give families an “instant card” to purchase clothing and necessary items for foster children. Families could also be eligible for reimbursements for items they purchased for children.
The bill was sent to the House Finance Committee for consideration.
This article originally appeared on West Virginia Watch.
West Virginia Watch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Leann Ray for questions: info@westvirginiawatch.com.
