CHARLESTON, W.Va. –A bill that would change the circumstances for when a foster child may be removed from a foster home passed the house Wednesday.
HB 2027, which aims to reduce the number of times a foster child is moved from family to family, passed the house with a 97-2 vote with one absence.
Delegate Adam Burkhammer, R-Lewis, a sponsor of the bill and a foster parent himself, says that this is the main goal of the bill.
“So, what we’re trying to do is shorten the unnecessary moves where kids are being moved from foster home to home, kind of being bounced around,” Burkhammer said during the bill’s discussion Wednesday. “We’re trying to reduce that trauma.”
Under the bill it states that a child who has been placed with a foster care family for an excess of 15 months or 50% of the child’s life, will be able to stay with the family if the WV Department of Health and Human Services, deems the placement to be fit and proper and in the best interest of the child.
Delegate Jonathan Pinson, R-Mason, acknowledged, during the discussion, that the WV foster care system has a lot of issues, and passing the bill would be the step in the right direction in order to start fixing them.
“Unfortunately there’s not a wand that we can wave, there’s not a bill that we can pass that’s going to fix all of them in one swell swoop, but what you have in front of them today is one opportunity to address one specific problem of children who are bounced around from foster home to foster home, often times at no fault of their own and at no fault of the foster parent,” Pinson said.
There are six circumstances where the placement would terminated, if there has been allegations of abuse/neglect in the home and the department finds evidence to support that, if the child is returned to the biological parent/parents, if they are united or reunited with a sibling/siblings, the foster parent/parents agree to the termination, the arrangement is terminated at the request of the child who has attained the age of 14 or older, or the court orders the termination if the department has found a suitable long-term placement for the child.
Delegate Patrick Lucas, R-Cabell said that this has been a long time coming.
“And it’s about time we did something to improve the lives of foster children and foster parents,” he said during discussion of the bill.
In his last statements during the discussion, Burkhammer said that if delegates decided to vote no on the bill, would be them voting for the continuation of traumatizing foster children.
“You’re voting to further damage kids’ psychology, you’re slowing their development, and I can’t stand for that, I can not stand for us to protect them on one hand and then damage them in another,” Burkhammer said.
The bill will now head to the Senate for consideration.