$70M spent sending WV foster children to out-of-state facilities, some with abuse allegations
Last year, the state of West Virginia spent nearly $70 million paying to house foster children in out-of-state facilities. (Justin Paget | Getty Images)
West Virginia spent nearly $70 million paying to house foster children in out-of-state facilities last year because the state doesn't have the capacity to keep children close to home. The astronomical price tag includes housing, feeding, medicating and educating hundreds of youth in foster care.
The Department of Human Services paid the bulk of the price tag. Angelia Hightower, a spokesperson for the department, said that some children were removed from out-of-state programs 'due to safety concerns and educational deficiencies.'
The state continues to make payments to Devereux Behavioral Health, which operates in 11 states, despite five open West Virginia investigations against the facilities involving sexual abuse and neglect. While the company is facing multiple lawsuits over child abuse allegations, the state still has children living in Devereux facilities. The most recent payment of $5,015 was in late February, according to the state auditor's public records.
The West Virginia Department of Education, which pays for some out-of-state education for foster children, said that every out-of-state facility had some level of findings of noncompliance that are often noted under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act during fiscal year 2024.
'No egregious findings were noted,' said Christy Day, a spokesperson for the WVDE. 'There were no findings that warranted removal of students.
Devereux was last monitored in 2018, she said. 'Any educational findings/violations found at that time were corrected within one year in compliance with the U.S. Department of Education,' she said.
Keeping children in West Virginia would be much cheaper, experts say, and allow better oversight of their treatment. But with a shortage of foster homes and in-state treatment beds, West Virginia relies on out-of-state facilities to house children, typically teens with behavioral or mental health issues.
In 2024, Neveya (West Virginia Watch is not fully identifying her to protect her privacy) ended up in Laurel Oaks in Alabama, a residential treatment facility 706 miles from Charleston. The atmosphere was chaotic, she said.
'I hated it there. Like every other day, there was a fight, every other day there was something,' said Neveya, 18. 'I also had an issue with a girl there, and she peed on my stuff.'
Nevaya, who spent her childhood living under a bridge with her mother, had been in a facility in Charleston and attending public school. In 2024, a Child Protective Services worker put Nevaya on a flight to Alabama. Nevaya said she was given no warning but was told that the Charleston facility couldn't support her mental health needs.
School was offered on-site at Laurel Oaks, but Navaya said her education during her five months there was minimal.
'If they had a fight on the floor that day, school's canceled,' Neveya said. 'I don't mean to speak too harshly of it, but it's almost like prison in a way.'
DoHS has asked lawmakers, who are right now vetting state budget requests, for a 65% increase in funding for foster care.
Del. Adam Burkhammer, R-Lewis, is a foster parent who has spearheaded legislation he hopes will reform the state's troubled foster care system. He reiterated that the state doesn't have enough in-state beds that can offer the kind of behavioral or mental health support these kids need.
'Right now is a really tough time. I know [DoHS] is aware of the problem, and they want to make this a focus. We all as a state and as a community should want to make this a focus,' Burkhammer said.
'The ultimate goal is to get them back home, and the best case scenario would be with their family,' he continued. 'These are our kids, our responsibility. We should do everything we can to get them home.''
The number of children coming into West Virginia's foster care accelerated as the substance abuse crisis ravaged the state. The lack of available homes and beds in group homes has led to children being placed in hotel rooms and on campgrounds.
There are more than 5,800 children in state foster care. DoHS data shows that 471 are out of state, mostly in group residential care.
By combing through the state auditor's public data on spending, West Virginia Watch was able to track payments — a mix of federal and state dollars — to more than a dozen out-of-state facilities in FY 2024. WVDE paid more than $7 million for these facilities, according to the auditor's records.
Facilities were located in Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah and more. One spending record showed the state paid Grafton School Residential Treatment in Virginia $687,908 last year.
Mike Folio, legal director for Disability Rights West Virginia, estimated that the state spends three times the amount of money on sending foster children out of state than it does on the ones who remain in state. His organization sued the state over alleged mistreatment of foster children, including sending them to dangerous out-of-state group homes.
'Once they are sent out of state, they experience extreme trauma they will never recover from,' Folio said.
Whitney Wetzel, a former DoHS spokesperson who is no longer with the agency, told West Virginia Watch in December that DoHS seeks to use out-of-state placements only when in-state services at the required level of care are unavailable. 'Typically, these placements involve more intense or specialized services, which leads to increased costs,' she said.
The process for a child being sent out of state involves numerous stakeholders, and ultimately, the court makes the decision to send a child to an out-of-state facility, according to DoHS.
'It's important to emphasize that DoHS is one member of this selection team that recommends placements based on the child's needs. DoHS is, however, the primary funding source and required to cover costs of court-ordered placements, even if they differ from a DoHS recommendation,' Wetzel said in an email to West Virginia Watch.
Potential facilities to take children go through a vetting process, according to Hightower. It includes an on-site visit. Annual reviews are conducted at facilities with existing contracts to ensure compliance.
'Social workers continue to meet the required monthly visit standards for all facilities,' Hightower said.
DoHS covers out-of-state education expenses for children who do not have an Individualized Education Program (IEP).
The WVDE, obligated to pay for children's education in out-of-state facilities, was invoiced for educational services for approximately 535 students in FY 2024, according to Day. Some students were listed twice due to being in multiple facilities.
The department handles the educational monitoring of these places, Day said.
Neveya said school at Laurel Oaks was online, with an adult who was on-site to supervise if they had school for the day. There was no teacher on campus during her five months there.
'Schooling was hard. It didn't give me much information,' she said.
Jeanette Jackson, chief executive officer for Laurel Oaks Behavioral Health Center, said any allegation at the center is thoroughly investigated.
'Laurel Oaks Behavioral Health Hospital is committed to providing compassionate care in a safe setting to children and adolescents with psychiatric, emotional and behavioral disorders,' she wrote in an email.
DoHS said they'd reduced the percentage of children in residential care from 24% to 14% over the last several years. Wetzel said they've tripled their spending on community-based mental health services.
A recent investigation from Mountain State Spotlight, a nonprofit newsroom, found that the state still sends children with physical or emotional disabilities to group homes and treatment centers at a rate three times the national average.
DoHS leaders recently requested more than $181 million for the foster care program in the department's roughly $7 billion total budget request for FY 2026. It's a 65% increase over the $110 million in the current DoHS budget for foster care.
Alex Mayer, new DoHS cabinet secretary, told lawmakers that the rising costs of out-of-state services are a budgetary risk.
' … The limited in-state capacity and increased level of acuity among youth has also led to higher costs for out-of-state placements,' Mayer told the Senate Finance Committee on March 20. He has stressed that he is committed to working collaboratively with the Legislature to address child welfare issues.
The state draws down federal money to help pay for children out of state. Burkhammer said federal reimbursement rates for out-of-state placements are part of the price problem.
'There could be a potential savings if we can bring those kids home and take care of them at home,' Burkhammer said.
Folio called on lawmakers to study how much the state is spending sending children out of state and, in response, invest those resources in community-based programs to keep children close to home.
'The taxpayers will save millions of dollars,' he said.
In February, Neveya was in Charleston, getting ready for a formal event at a nearby high school, excited to wear a long ruby red gown.
The teenager is back home in West Virginia after aging out of state care. She is living with a foster family who kept in contact with her when she was sent to Alabama. After years of poor education in facilities, they're helping her get caught up on schooling so she can graduate.
She credits her new family and a therapist for helping her make it to this point.
When asked what she'd tell the state foster care leaders, she replied, 'I would want them to know that they need to have better facilities, because it sucked.'
Editor's note:
Amelia Ferrell Knisley has been covering West Virginia's foster care system since 2019. Over the years, she's spoken with foster children abused in out-of-state facilities, child protective services workers who can't keep up with caseloads, biological parents who want answers and foster parents who feel lost in a complex system. She's written about state leaders' attempts — or lack thereof — to fix the problems, and spotlighted organizations helping vulnerable children.
If you want to chat about foster care, email her at aknisely@westvirginiawatch.com.
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