The West Virginia First Foundation has begun accepting applications for grants intended to deal with the effects of the drug epidemic in the state, and not a moment too soon. The state’s drug overdose death rate per capita is the highest in the nation. Statistically on average, four West Virginians will die today from a drug overdose.
Tragically, the crisis extends to young children and even the unborn. Consider this data released recently to the West Virginia Legislature’s Joint Committee on Government and Finance:
–Four out of five times when a child is removed from a home by the state there is known drug use.
–Half of all instances of child removal are specifically because of parental drug use.
–In 2020, West Virginia had the highest rate in the nation of infants screened by the state’s Child Protective Services agency with prenatal substance exposure. It is estimated that nearly 2,500 babies born in 2020 were exposed to drugs before they were born.
–In that same year, 852 children under the age of one were taken into state custody.
–The majority of children in the state born in a drug exposed environment or with a diagnosis of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) “were to mothers who had pervious pregnancies.”
–“Most mothers that give birth to babies with drug exposure and NAS are likely to have children with the same issues thereafter [emphasis added].
As a result, the number of children in the foster care system in West Virginia has exploded, rising from 4,600 in 2016 to nearly 6,000 today. According to data presented to legislators, nationally three out of every 1,000 children enter the foster care system. In West Virginia, that number is 13, which is twice what it was in 2000.
What is even more startling is that this data is based on known cases. Child Protective Services is short staffed and overwhelmed. The agency cannot know of every instance of abuse and neglect because of drug use. The extent of the problem that can be quantified suggests it is actually much worse.
The West Virginia First Foundation will have nearly $1 billion from the opioid settlements to address the drug crisis here. As our Brad McElhinny reported, “The money can go for a variety of efforts. Initial priorities will be youth prevention and workforce development, child advocacy centers and neonatal abstinence programs, diversion programs and interdiction, plus expansion of transitional and recovery housing.”
West Virginia needs an all-of-the above approach to this crisis. Given what we know about the depth of the problem that reaches from working age adults all the way through to children and even the unborn, failure is not an option.