CHARLESTON, W.Va. — State officials responding to failures in the Child Protective Service system said they knew there were areas of concern and have implemented some corrective action.
The state DoHS and cabinet secretary Alex Mayer said the report by the Office of Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spans a period of time prior to the Morrisey administration—from the fall of 2023 to the fall of 2024. But, he said they took over the agency and began to make changes prior to the report being released.
“I think we’ve already started putting some things in place that help ensure they are able to perform the duties they are required to do,” Mayer said Tuesday on MetroNews Midday. “While continuing to double down on other additional supports to them so they can be successful in their role.”
Collateral contacts are people involved in an investigation but not directly with the child. Those contacts are now processed on the front end of an investigation, not at the end, to give professionals a better picture of the challenges facing the child.
“We now put that on the front end of the process, so once the intake is done, the collateral contacts are initiated so we can get a better picture of the entire situation,” Mayer said. “In order to get as many details as possible around the situation.”
He said their efforts to offer increased training for workers are showing progress. Mayer said they are working harder to provide the tools and resources employees need to help children and families recover.
“It’s also created an opportunity whereby these individuals that may have not had as much in-depth working with the system now are becoming more educated on the system and how it works,” Mayer said.
Del. Geno Chiarelli, R-Monongalia, worked as a CPS employee in Marion County back in 2019 and wants to proceed with caution. He said knowing officials are working toward solutions he wants to take a careful inventory of the situation before proceeding.
“We want to be able to have the conversations necessary in order to determine what we can do and what we shouldn’t do,” Chiarelli said on MetroNews “Talkline” Tuesday. “We don’t want to meddle if we don’t have to—if this really can be handled by the secretary, we want to get out of his way.”
Reflecting on his experience in 2019, Chiarelli said once he completed his training with the organization, he was given several cases to investigate, some one year old. When a concerned Chiarelli went to the leadership of the organization, he said they seemed to be disconnected.
“It feels like every time I went to the office, they were on their phones playing Candy Crush,” Chiarelli said. “We’re out here drowning in this stuff, and it seems like she can’t wait to retire to collect her pension—we need supervisors that are really invested in the work they’re doing.”