CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Kanawha County Circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers says she wants to know why there hasn’t been more consistency from the county prosecutor’s office in getting abuse and neglect cases before her.
Akers held a hearing Tuesday morning where she asked Kanawha County Prosecutor Chuck Miller why he hasn’t appointed an attorney to handle such cases in her courtroom. Akers said she asked Miller’s office multiple times to file court orders but received a “disappointing” response from Miller.
“We have to know who to contact in the prosecutor’s office when we need things, but your response, Mr. Miller, although you thought it was clever, was that you just wouldn’t answer me. That was a direct order from this court,” Akers said.
Akers continued to press Miller about his duty to direct those orders, but Miller said he’s having issues with his staff and can’t find anyone reliable to handle those cases in her courtroom.
“I can’t answer that because it’s too fluid. I send people that I believe are confident, but in some cases, it doesn’t work out,” Miller said. “I can’t wave a wand and make an attorney who doesn’t know much about abuse and neglect to be an abuse and neglect attorney.”
Kanawha County Circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers is holding a hearing this morning to address the failure of the Kanawha County Prosecutor's Office to handle abuse and neglect cases in a timely manner. @WVMetroNews @580WCHS pic.twitter.com/4pR0hiC6X2
— Carrie Hodousek (@CarrieHodousek) October 17, 2023
In March 2021, when Akers took the bench, she said there were 227 active abuse and neglect cases in Kanawha County, with some of those cases dating back to 2007. Akers said in Sept. 2023, there was some improvement with 113 active cases. Those cases skyrocketed a month later. As of Oct. 13, 2023, there were 872 active cases in the county.
As a result, Akers said she’s had to file nearly 200 orders just to clear her own docket.
Multiple adoptions have been delayed because of the backlog, Akers said.
“In February 1, 2022, a list of 11 cases was sent by this court that adoptions were held up because of lack of orders,” she noted as one example.
As a former Kanawha County assistant prosecutor, Akers said she understands both sides of the issue.
“The court did inherit a mess, but that wasn’t necessarily the fault of the previous court. It’s my understanding, as I was in this court for 20 years, that the state of West Virginia has to do those orders. It’s always been that way,” she said.
“Why should I not hold you in contempt?” Akers asked Miller. “It is clear that you have relied on people to prepare a response for you that is incorrect and full of falsehoods and frankly, violates the rules of professional conduct.”
Miller said he’s willing to make things right.
“We want to work vigorously to clean that mess up,” he said.
Much of the issue is statewide and has to do with staffing shortages within Child Protective Services at the state Department of Health and Human Resources, which state lawmakers discussed during interim committee meetings Tuesday.
Berkeley County Circuit Judge Steven Redding told lawmakers Monday he has a backlog of 400 referrals connected to child abuse and neglect cases. He cited delayed response times, delayed referrals and no court reports filed. He also said the CPS workers he deals with have more than 125 cases when they should only have 30 cases each.
“We’re in a situation where we’ve been so understaffed that things are falling through the cracks,” Redding told lawmakers.