As Gov. Patrick Morrisey pledged his administration will be more open about the challenges of West Virginia’s child welfare system, people who watch the system closely are hoping for the best.
“I was really encouraged,” said Shiloh Woodard, executive director of the West Virginia Child Advocacy Network. “I think this is exactly the right time and exactly the right move for the state to be making.”
The governor in a briefing last week said that changes are following a series of listening sessions held across the state with key stakeholders and a thorough review of past child fatalities and near fatalities within the child welfare system.
“So we’re going to keep getting better and better, and the announcements the other day usher in a new era of transparency, of accountability, of better communications, of better training, better management of the system,” Morrisey said on MetroNews Talkline.
“And there are difficulties with our child welfare system that are born from the fact that we have a lot of tough economic socioeconomic challenges in West Virginia. They don’t change overnight, but we are working on it, and I think it’s important that the public knows that this is going to take time, but it’s a far cry from the past.”
Bottom line, the governor said on statewide radio, “You’re not going to see the stonewalling. You’re not going to see the lack of transparency. We want to level up with everyone and say, ‘Now you get to know what’s going on a little bit more behind the scenes.'”
More than 6,000 West Virginia children are in state custody, according to the state child welfare dashboard.
A foster care lawsuit, filed in 2019 and currently on appeal, alleged rampant issues with institutionalization, moves of children in state custody outside of West Virginia, lack of available community-based mental health services and overextended caseworkers.
Some harrowing child welfare cases have been in the public spotlight.
Questions swirled after 14-year-old Kynnedi Miller was found dead “emaciated to a skeletal state” on the bathroom floor of her Boone County home. According to investigators, the teen had not attended school since late 2019 or 2020 and hadn’t been outside the house more than a couple of times in the last four years.
In another high-profile case, a couple in West Virginia were convicted of child abuse, human trafficking and forced labor for mistreating their adopted children who were locked in a shed with no running water or proper bathroom facilities.
In both cases, the central question was the responsiveness of West Virginia’s child protective services agency.
Woodard’s organization, the West Virginia Child Advocacy Network, fights against child abuse and runs 21 child advocacy centers. She said she appreciates listening tour about the child welfare system and the governor’s statements about the importance of openness.
“It does feel as if there’s a renewed focus and a renewed energy around trying to figure out what systems can be overhauled, what practices and policies can be reviewed, changed, enhanced, in order to provide a better child welfare system within West Virginia,” Woodard said.
Woodard said the child welfare system is so complex that improvement would require more than one big action. “I think it’s important to be mindful that it’s sort of a confluence of practices and policies that come together to create what appears to be a system that is responsive to child abuse and neglect or even alleged crimes against children,” she said.
Similarly, a leader with the West Virginia Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children organization approved of the governor’s message of openness.
“We absolutely agree that increasing transparency and accountability is a crucial step towards improving West Virginia’s child welfare system,” said Shanna Gray, state executive director for WV CASA, a nonprofit organization supporting volunteer advocacy for abused or neglected children in the state’s court system.
“We’re hopeful that this is the starting point for the reforms that our children — who have endured so much and are caught in the foster care crisis — deserve. We look forward to partnering as these systemic changes are designed and implemented.
Morrisey has said his administration’s policies will mean requiring public disclosure of key information in child abuse or neglect cases resulting in fatalities or near fatalities. He outlined several other steps like overhauling the Child Welfare Dashboard to make it simpler to use and easier to interpret the data.
“We are rolling up our sleeves and getting to work,” Morrisey said. “West Virginians deserve a child welfare system that is transparent, accountable, and always puts the safety of children first.”
Delegate Adam Burkhammer, R-Lewis, is a foster parent of several children and has been consistently involved with child welfare legislation. “So we live this system and the complexities of it on an everyday basis,” he said on MetroNews Midday.
Burkhammer agrees with the need for openness and community involvement.
“Bringing transparency to it, no longer hiding behind the confidentiality piece and just coming forth and saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got a problem, and here are the issues that we’ve come up with, and here’s what we’re doing to fix them’ — I think that is the first step in really tackling this,” he said.
“The past administration did seem to want to hide behind the confidentiality piece a little further than what the federal guidelines were. And so I’m thankful that Governor Morrisey is willing to come out and say, ‘We’re going to be transparent and open about how we’re going to tackle this issue.'”