West Virginia’s secretary for human services told lawmakers about continued focus on child welfare needs and staffing to make sure that work receives proper attention.
Alex Mayer also described progress in reducing overdose deaths in West Virginia.
Mayer spoke before the Oversight Commission on Health and Human Resources Accountability during interim legislative meetings at the state Capitol.
“We’ve been very busy, particularly in the child welfare space,” Mayer , referencing a child welfare listening tour that concluded this summer.
West Virginia’s child welfare dashboard shows more than 6,000 current placements of children by the state.
Mayer said that one area of emphasis is West Virginia foster children who wind up living in hotels. Senator Vince Deeds, R-Greenbrier, asked how many children are in that situation. “How many kids do we have in hotels?” Deeds asked.
Eighteen, Mayer replied.
“These children are not remaining in hotels because we don’t have enough beds, because we don’t have enough foster parents. It’s a lot to do with the complexities and the challenges that these children are facing,” Mayer said.
“And you know, we’ve been working and continue to work with our providers to better understand the needs of these children, and how we can help them boost their capacity and their ability to support these youth. But sometimes it’s just too much, and so that results in a lot of these youth having to go out of state,” Mayer said.
Deeds followed up by asking how many West Virginia foster children are sent out of state. Mayer estimated that is about 600.
Mayer said state officials are discussing with providers and experts strategies to lower those numbers. But he said some of the children in such situations have complicated, difficult behavior circumstances.
“But I think more importantly, it’s a commitment to get those children closer to their support networks, and that’s just going to lead to better outcomes for children,” Mayer said.
West Virginia has had longstanding trouble recruiting and retaining Child Protective Services workers. Mayer described progress on that workforce issue.
Right now, Child Protective Services is authorized for 810 positions. Of those, just 69 are vacant.
“When we look at recruitment and retention, that’s an ongoing challenge that we experience at the agency. Happy to report, our most recent vacancy rate was 8.3%, approximately,” Mayer said.
West Virginia has had a longstanding problem with drug addiction, which interweaves with the issues in the child welfare system.
The state has experienced recent declines in overdose deaths after years of having the highest rate in the country.
“You know, we’re down our fourth consecutive month in overdose deaths, and now we’re down towards 2016 levels,” Mayer said. “That’s pretty remarkable.”