Document Type
Article
Abstract
West Virginia has one of the highest rates of children in foster care—and thus removed from their families—in the United States. Recent scientific and social science research has shown that removing children from their parents’ home is a traumatic event in and of itself, causing further harm to children already experiencing abuse and neglect. Federal legislation in the past ten years requires that states make reasonable efforts to address issues of abuse and neglect prior to removing children from their homes. West Virginia, for many reasons, is not doing so. West Virginia’s state child welfare agency, Department of Health and Human Resources (WVDHHR) is unable to sufficiently staff their offices across the state, leading to crises and an inability to timely investigate referrals to Child Protective Services. The state as a whole lacks access to a number of critical resources that are necessary to preventing removal. The opioid crisis has exacerbated pre-existing poverty and substance abuse problems and caused further need for services in the state. Yet the West Virginia government had a self-proclaimed surplus of $1.308 billion at the end of 2022. This article seeks to propose several programs and services that West Virginia could be funding through that surplus and through various federal grants, including IV-E monies, that would reduce the number of children removed from their homes by providing assistance to parents before the situation rises to the level of imminent danger. This article also suggests ways that West Virginia can mitigate the trauma to children by making greater efforts to place them with relatives and fictive kin in their own communities. and thus removed from their families—in the United States. Recent scientific and social science research has shown that removing children from their parents’ home is a traumatic event in and of itself, causing further harm to children already experiencing abuse and neglect. Federal legislation in the past ten years requires that states make reasonable efforts to address issues of abuse and neglect prior to removing children from their homes. West Virginia, for many reasons, is not doing so. West Virginia’s state child welfare agency, Department of Health and Human Resources (WVDHHR) is unable to sufficiently staff their offices across the state, leading to crises and an inability to timely investigate referrals to Child Protective Services. The state as a whole lacks access to a number of critical resources that are necessary to preventing removal. The opioid crisis has exacerbated pre-existing poverty and substance abuse problems and caused further need for services in the state. Yet the West Virginia government had a self-proclaimed surplus of $1.308 billion at the end of 2022. This article seeks to propose several programs and services that West Virginia could be funding through that surplus and through various federal grants, including IV-E monies, that would reduce the number of children removed from their homes by providing assistance to parents before the situation rises to the level of imminent danger. This article also suggests ways that West Virginia can mitigate the trauma to children by making greater efforts to place them with relatives and fictive kin in their own communities.
Recommended Citation
Emily R. Mowry,
Removing Barriers--Not Children: How West Virginia Can Prevent Further Harm to Children,
125
W. Va. L. Rev.
931
(2023).
Available at:
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/wvlr/vol125/iss3/8