Latest news with #WestVirginiaDepartmentofHumanServices
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New Human Services secretary inherited a broken WV foster care system. He promises improvements.
Alex Mayer, speaking to the West Virginia Senate Judiciary on March 10, 2025, was appointed by Gov. Patrick Morrisey to serve as secretary of the West Virginia Department of Human Services. (Will Price | West Virginia Legislative Photography) On a Thursday evening in Parkersburg, a group of local residents gathered to discuss West Virginia foster care — a system that is struggling from top to bottom with thousands of kids in care. A moderator asked foster and biological parents, child welfare workers, judges and others to describe their experience with the system. Their responses: 'Challenging.' 'Overwhelming.' 'Traumatizing.' 'Broken.' 'Nobody would listen. Nobody would talk to me,' said Lisa Easter, who had more than 50 foster children in her home in 25 years. Julie Jones stopped fostering after Child Protective Services went months without checking on a newborn baby in her care. She was mailed a blank birth certificate and worried if the state was aware of the child's whereabouts. 'I couldn't do it any longer,' she said. In the corner of the room, new Department of Human Services Secretary Alex Mayer listened as people described a frustrating system riddled with inconsistencies, staffing shortages, an overwhelmed judicial system, limited support and children who have been victims of it all. Mayer, who came from South Dakota, believes it can be fixed. It's going to take time, he says, but work is underway. He is focused on accountability, transparency and putting in processes that aren't in place for consistency. He wants more in-state programs that can help kids with behavioral health struggles. 'It's going to be incremental over time,' Mayer said. 'I think it's going to be a long road until we have everything addressed confidently … You'll be seeing here shortly some really positive steps.' A federal judge recently said West Virginia's foster care system has suffered from 'shocking neglect' and 'bureaucratic indifference.' There's a shortage of social workers, support services and safe homes for children in a state that is fastest to remove children from homes and terminate parental rights. Too many children have ended up living in hotel rooms, and the state spent $70 million last year sending foster kids to out-of-state group homes. 'The thing that was shocking to me was the number of kids in care,' Mayer said. There are more than 6,100 children in West Virginia foster care, and the number has skyrocketed during the state's drug crisis. The state's high poverty rate has contributed to the number, too. Gov. Patrick Morrisey appointed 37–year-old Mayer to oversee DoHS. Mayer will have to grapple with pervasive foster care problems as the Trump administration proposes cuts to programs that serve families in poverty and help vulnerable kids. The state could see a decline in federal funding, impacting programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that are intertwined with child welfare. DoHS also oversees Medicaid, SNAP and more. 'Child welfare is a very intricate, complex system, and there's a lot of different players, which … obviously increases the level of complexity,' Mayer said. 'I've been really intentional and just trying to get out to learn the system.' Residents of Wood County attend a child welfare community listening session at the Wood County Resilience Center in Parkersburg, on May 15, 2025. The meeting was facilitated by the West Virginia Department of Human Services. (Amelia Ferrell Knisely | West Virginia Watch) Mayer, who was adopted, spent time in the military before working at a residential facility that served people with severe mental illnesses He later worked in South Dakota's state government, dealing with SNAP and child welfare. 'Different steps in my life have led me down this path,' he said. 'Over time, I think I've just developed this passion for solving problems, which I think has inherently then created this desire to support families and kids … I just have a passion for helping.' He has spent the last few months traveling the state meeting with his staff, touring residential facilities and trying to understand how the system works. The federal government is continuing its oversight of West Virginia's foster care system after it was flagged for sending too many children with disabilities to group homes. The state still sends children with disabilities to group homes and treatment centers at a rate three times the national average. Two-hundred and seventy children are in out-of-state facilities around the county — some miles away from their biological families — because the state doesn't have enough in-state beds that can serve children's complex needs. The state's CPS workers are required to visit kids once a month. Mayer said he's examining where the state could increase specialized care, like being able to serve children with aggressive or sexualized behaviors who aren't able to be served in a traditional foster home. 'We don't have placements for these kids. Well, that's not an option anymore,' he said. 'And, if those placements aren't here … then we have to find a way to make that happen, because we want to keep kids as close as possible to their support network for a variety of reasons.' There's a shortage of foster families, and Mayer hopes to bolster recruitment and support services. He noted that a glaring shortage of after school and summer programs for teens, which could be useful in helping working parents take in teenagers in foster care. Teens ages 13 to 17 are the most common age group in state foster care. There's also a need for creating agency processes that will breed consistently in decision making across the state, Mayer said. Child welfare cases involve a number of stakeholders — judges, attorneys, CPS workers and others — who all have an opinion and sometimes decision making about a child's future. 'I think our practice model is one of those pieces that needs some real work,' he said. Earlier this year, Mayer pushed back on a Republican-sponsored bill, which ultimately failed, that would have mandated an outside audit of the foster care system. Mayer vowed changes to lawmakers without a study. West Virginia's foster care system relies on federal and state funding, and there's some unpredictability in spending due to kids fluctuating in and out of care and the rising price of out-of-state facilities. Lawmakers, who have struggled in recent years to get a handle on the agency's spending, allocated more than $300 million to foster care in their recently-passed budget. Their 2026 budget bill mandated that DoHS spend some money on designated line items to prevent the agency from shifting money around to pay bills. But Morrisey vetoed that idea, saying it was too restrictive for DoHS. The Republican governor, who wants to reign in state spending, also vetoed line item funding for programs that support babies born with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome and foster children. Mayer said that right now, he doesn't think the department needs additional funding to tackle the crisis. It will likely rely on partnerships with the faith-based community, businesses and others that provide services to help children and families, he said. 'I think we just need to get more attention on what is it going to take?' he said. 'I don't know what that funding would be, or if it needs to be anything.' The state's federal funding could change since Republicans in Washington have proposed cuts to SNAP and Medicaid — a program that provides health insurance to West Virginia foster children and half of all children in the state. 'We've been watching that really intently,' Mayer said regarding the potential federal changes. This month, he has traveled around the state for additional foster care listening sessions in towns including Beckley, Burlington and Wheeling to hear from families, CPS workers and others. It's important, he said. The outside firm leading the sessions will compile a report detailing problems and potential solutions. 'I'm kind of excited to see, you know, what we're able to accomplish here,' he said. A Better Childhood, a group representing children suing the state over its troubled foster care system, wants the lawsuit revived after a judge tossed the case in February. In an email, a DoHS spokesperson said, 'We recognize that the only way to facilitate and bring about real change is to bring all of the key players together to openly and honestly discuss problems and develop real solutions. 'The first steps we are taking, through listening tours and meaningful conversations, are designed to build bridges among the necessary parties who must work together to find sustainable, long-term solutions for the children in our care.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
West Virginia Watch reporter wins a Dan Rather Medal for her foster care reporting
Amelia Ferrell Knisely joined West Virginia Watch when the outlet launched in July 2023, and has been covering West Virginia's foster care system since 2019. (Amelia Ferrell Knisely | Courtesy photo) West Virginia Watch reporter Amelia Ferrell Knisely has placed second in the Dan Rather Medals for News and Guts competition. Knisely won for her reporting for West Virginia Watch, which 'fought for transparency in West Virginia's overwhelmed foster care system.' For six months, Knisely requested from the West Virginia Department of Human Services documents that show how much the state spent on housing foster children in hotels in 2023. Instead of financial documents, the department sent Knisely a mostly redacted report on children staying in hotels, motels, offices and hospitals between January and October 2023. With that report, she wrote her award-winning article, 'WV agency won't release docs showing where money was spent putting foster kids in hotels.' 'The level of neglect exposed by this reporting is reprehensible,' one of the judges wrote. 'The amount of work it took to get the information, public information, to shed light on this was incredible.' And in the email informing Knisely of her win, John Bridges, a lecturer in journalism at the University of Texas at Austin, where the awards are housed, wrote: 'Indeed, your work was just the kind of dogged reporting that Dan Rather had in mind when he created these awards with the University of Texas.' Knisely original records request was denied, former Gov. Jim Justice's office did not respond to her emails and a then DoHS spokesperson denied her interview request with state child welfare leaders. 'Despite their intimidation, insults and ongoing resistance to answering my questions, I persist and have a great newsroom behind me.' Knisely told the Dan Rather Medals for News and Guts. 'I'm still covering foster care and will continue to do so. These children deserve it.' Knisely joined West Virginia Watch when the outlet launched in July 2023. She 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. Read her foster care reporting for West Virginia Watch here. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Attorneys suing over WV's troubled foster care system seek to review lawsuit, request new judge
The West Virginia Department of Human Services, located at One Davis Square in Charleston, (Lexi Browning | West Virginia Watch) A group representing children suing the state of West Virginia over its troubled foster care system wants the lawsuit revived after a judge tossed the case in February. A Better Childhood, a nonprofit legal advocacy group based in New York, is also seeking a new judge to preside over the class-action lawsuit, according to a filing on Tuesday. 'We're asking to get the decision reversed, and we're asking to get the judge off the case,' said Marcia Lowry, the organization's executive director. 'We continue to think this is a very serious and unconstitutional situation.' The 2019 lawsuit brought by foster children sought to address pervasive issues in West Virginia's overburdened child welfare system, including a shortage of Child Protective Services workers and safe homes for children. Kids were left to linger in the system for years with no plans for permanent homes or ending up in abusive group homes, the lawsuit said. In his dismissal of the case, U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin didn't deny problems still persist, but said the situation couldn't be fixed through the courts. 'This court cannot take over the foster care system of West Virginia,' Goodwin wrote in an opinion dismissing the case, adding that it was an 'unsatisfying result' to years of litigation. 'I know that there are children who deeply suffer in the custody of the state,' he continued. 'West Virginia's foster care system has cycled through inaction, bureaucratic indifference, shocking neglect and temporary fixes for years. The blame squarely lies with West Virginia state government.' Lowry said that Goodwin failed to rule on underlying issues in the system and has 'firmly-held beliefs against institutional reform litigation.' 'The first thing he's supposed to do is decide liability. This judge has made it clear that he does not think that, regardless that there are serious problems in the system, he still can get relief. In our view, that is wrong,' she said. 'In the interest of justice and fairness, we think the case should go to a judge that doesn't have such firmly-held beliefs.' Additionally, Lowry believes the suit should continue, saying a court ruling in the case is likely to address children's needs. The lawsuit asks the courts to mandate that the Department of Human Services place children in safe homes or facilities, receive necessary services and more. They're also asking for an outside monitor to 'conduct record reviews as necessary to ensure compliance.' 'No doubt, institutional reform of a state agency is a daunting and arduous task,' the filing reads. 'Federal courts have a constitutional duty to confront that task, not to shy away from it.' Shafer and Shafer, a West Virginia-based law firm, and Disability Rights West Virginia are also plaintiffs in the case. DoHS did not immediately return a request for comment. Prior to Godowin's dismissal order, the agency sought to have the case thrown out, citing improvements to the system that included hiring more CPS workers. The lawsuit was previously thrown out in 2021 then revived by an appeals court in 2022. In 2023, U.S. District Judge Thomas E. Johnston recused himself from the case after Mountain State Spotlight, a nonprofit newsroom, pointed out ethical concerns regarding Johnston's communication with lawmakers and the former Department of Health and Human Resources about legislation impacting foster care and possibly the lawsuit. Public information available through the State Auditor's website shows that DoHS has paid more than $8 million to Brown and Peisch, a law firm in Washington, D.C. that has provided the state's legal counsel in the case since 2020. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
CarePortal aims to help social workers and families with launch in Preston County
KINGWOOD, (WBOY) — West Virginia has one of the highest rates of children in foster care in the country, and a new program that's being introduced to the state this year is hoping to lower those numbers. On Tuesday, Preston County became the second county in the state to launch CarePortal, an online program that connects local churches to the real-time needs of vulnerable children and families, allowing the community to respond with tangible support. The program hopes to help prevent unnecessary foster care placement. The West Virginia Department of Human Services and Chestnut Mountain Village collaborated to make the launch possible. So far in Preston County, there are five churches already signed up and ready to help. Dozens of community members came out to the Kingwood Community Center on Tuesday to learn how the program works. Estate donates $75,000 to preserve Metropolitan Theatre The request for help is first administered by a child welfare agency, a pregnancy resource center, a school, a school district or a non-profit. Then instantly, churches, businesses, community groups and individuals that have signed up to help will get an alert and can choose to fulfill the request. 'It's absolutely supporting social workers. Now, when social workers see those needs, they see a family that needs a bed or a dresser, they're trying to find community resources on their own, they may be picking up the phone and calling the local church anyhow, they're trying to find other resources, they're encouraging the family to go do it, so this is actually making their jobs easier,' Greg Clutter, Director of Chestnut Mountain Village said. Currently, only social workers within the counties that have CarePortal can make requests, but Clutter said the goal is to have CarePortal across the entire state, joining 38 other states across the country that already use it. Clutter said once requests are made, one church or organization can lead the request with others pitching in as well, and it's all tracked to make sure one request is not getting multiples of the same items. In just three weeks, Monongalia County's CarePortal has helped 59 children. Clutter said the hope is for the next launch to be in Taylor and Upshur counties, one step closer to the mission of being available statewide. To learn more about CarePortal, you can go here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
West Virginia saw a 40% decrease in overdose deaths in 2024
CLARKSBURG, (WBOY) — The West Virginia Department of Human Services recently provided data showing a significant drop in overdose deaths across the state. Between January and October 2024, West Virginia saw a 40% decrease in drug overdose deaths compared to 2023, the most of any other state. So what's working for our state? 12 News spoke with West Virginia's Director of Drug Control Policy Stephen Loyd, who said the decrease is the result of access to overdose-reversal drugs, the statewide increase in quick response teams, cooperation among law enforcement, access to treatment and rehabilitation. Despite that, Loyd said one of the biggest reasons for the decrease was West Virginia's sense of community. 'The sense of community in West Virginia is unlike anything that I've seen, and I really see that in our communities and people pulling together to look for solutions to help families suffering with addiction. Now, we've still got stigma, and we've still got things we've got to overcome, but those are things that I see. And we talk about it,' Loyd said. West Virginia saw its highest drug overdose rates during COVID. Loyd said that this was due to treatment and access options being limited. Gov. Morrisey signs Lauren's Law in Morgantown Correctional facilities played an important role in the decline, providing medication-assisted treatments and after-care plans for people in need, as the risk of overdose increases two weeks after being released from prison. 'We were the hardest hit state, we were targeted the hardest, and now other states are looking for us in how to come out of this. And I have to admit, I'm a bit of a romantic, but I love the idea of West Virginia leading the way out of it,' Loyd said. West Virginia's 40% decline surpassed the national average of 26.5%, which, according to the Department of Human Services, translates to 468 people who are still alive. The state's decline also led to a significant decrease in children entering the foster care system. Loyd also spoke to 12 New on how legislation can help keep the downward trend going. 'Don't tear down what we've already built. Let's look for the holes in it and see how we tie it together and draw quality providers to our state rather than blowing up what we have. That will not work, and we will hurt West Virginians,' Loyd said. You can find more on the West Virginia Department of Human Services' data on the state's overdose death decline in its press release. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
