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West Virginia House Health Committee reviews bill addressing emergency foster placements

DoHS official claims measure is not needed

Del. Jonathan Pinson, right, said Thursday a bill to create a central reception center system of emergency resource homes for foster children would create better outcomes for foster children then temporarily relocating them to hotels or other short-term locations. (Photo courtesy of WV Legislative Photography)

CHARLESTON — A lawmaker and former West Virginia State Police trooper believes a bill he introduced can help address the issue of foster children being placed in not ideal housing, such as hotels and other temporary facilities.

The House Health and Human Resources Committee held a hearing Thursday afternoon on House Bill 3382, addressing the placement of foster children, creating a central reception center, and creating a system of emergency resource homes. The bill will be up for mark-up and discussion at a later date.

Del. Jonathan Pinson, R-Mason, is the lead sponsor of HB 3382. Speaking after Thursday’s House floor session, Pinson said creating a new system to help some of the most troubled children in the state’s custody could help create better outcomes for those children in the future.

“What we find in the state of West Virginia is we have an increased number of children who are entering foster care, and we have a diminished number of families who are serving as foster parents,” Pinson said. “By creating these temporary intake centers, we can create a loving, bright, welcoming environment for children who are thrust into turmoil…into drama and trauma that they did not bring on themselves.”

HB 3382 would create a central reception center (CRC), a short-term facility that would provide temporary supervision, assessment, and support services for children awaiting placement in foster care. Children at the facility would be limited to a 72-hour stay, requiring the child be placed in a suitable foster home.

The Department of Human Services would be required to establish at least one CRC operating 24/7 and all year long. The CRC would provide supervised care and temporary shelter for children disrupted from foster placements, comprehensive assessments and behavioral stabilization services, case coordination with child welfare professionals, and educational continuity, medical, and therapeutic support as needed.

“The thought process is if we take custody of a child at 5 o’clock on Friday evening, it takes time to find foster families. It takes time to find kinship placements that are safe,” said Pinson, a pastor and a former State Police trooper. “During that interim time, we want to make sure that children are surrounded by support services and love, not stored in a hotel or a motel or somewhere else while we try to figure out as the state what to do with their care and custody.”

The bill creates the emergency resource homes (ERH) program. ERHs are foster homes specifically designated for emergency overnight care of children in state custody who have not yet been placed in a permanent foster home. The Department of Human Services would expand the recruitment and licensure of ERHs to make sure there are plenty of such homes across the state.

Parents who participate in the ERH program would receive support from DoHS, including specialized training in trauma-informed care and crisis intervention, financial incentives, and support from crisis response teams available around the clock for immediate intervention.

According to the DoHS Child Welfare Dashboard, there were 5,897 children in state custody as of Feb. 28. Of that number, 37% of in-state children are in a certified kinship/relative home and 30% are in therapeutic foster care, but 3% – 156 children – are listed as placed in an agency emergency shelter, defined as “short-term placement during a crisis situation.”

Another 448 children, or 8% of in-state children in state custody, are in group residential care awaiting placement in a foster home. Of the 471 children in state custody who have been placed out-of-state, 258 children (55%) are in group residential homes. Another 48 children are in in-state psychiatric hospitals and have yet to be placed in a foster home, with 64 children in out-of-state psychiatric hospitals.

“We have children in need of foster homes who don’t have foster homes. That’s part of the problem,” said Lorie Bragg, interim commissioner of the Bureau for Social Services, during her testimony in the House Health Committee’s Thursday afternoon meeting. “The other problem is we have kids that get stuck in a placement and need another placement. For instance, if you have a child at a psychiatric residential treatment facility and finishes that program and needs a step-down, there’s not one available. It’s like a multitude of issues.”

According to a budget presentation by DoHS to the Senate Finance Committee, more than $181 million is being requested for the foster care program in the department’s $1.076 billion fiscal year 2026 general revenue budget request, a 65% increase over the $110 million in the current fiscal year DoHS budget for foster care. DoHS’s total fiscal year 2026 budget proposal, including federal funding, is more than $7 billion.

The number of foster care children in state custody peaked in April 2020 with 7,433 children. In 2023, 62% of the circuit court cases in the state dealt with child abuse and neglect. This influx of at-risk children has sometimes involved DoHS placing children in hotels, DoHS field offices, and even 4-H camps.

WCHS-TV reported last month about one foster child who attempted suicide while under supervision by DoHS in a hotel. Bragg said Thursday that children placed in hotels are supervised by either two CPS workers, two contract workers, or a combination of both. But under oath, Bragg confirmed that the child who attempted suicide was still able to get a bag of their head in an attempt to suffocate themselves.

On Feb. 29, the Associated Press reported that Kanawha County Circuit Court Judge Maryclaire Akers placed DoHS in a one-year “improvement period” under a court-appointed monitor to report on the state’s use of unlicensed facilities – such as 4-H camps and hotels – due to reports of violent incidents involving children in state custody.

“Oftentimes, when we’re taking custody of a child, it takes some amount of time, even to validate or verify their own family is a safe placement for them,” Pinson said. “As a result, we’re ending up with children who are spending several nights in a hotel or a motel. We’ve seen in the news recently that 4-H camps are being used to house children. I believe everyone, all the stakeholders, agree that’s not appropriate.”

Bragg said HB 3382 would only exacerbate the short-term problems with foster placements and not solve the long-term problems leading to children being removed from homes in the first place.

“While I can appreciate the intent of this bill, it’s going to be a Band-aid. It’s not going to be a fix for the issue,” Bragg said. “These kids are not the kids that foster parents are willing to take in. These are your autistic kids, non-verbal, IDD (intellectual and developmentally disabled), physically aggressive teenagers. The kids that may be doing self-harm. The kids who are difficult to place. Those are the kids ending up in the hotels.”

Lawmakers on the committee grilled Bragg on why she thought the bill would not be helpful to the department. According to reporting from West Virginia Watch, the state paid more than $2.1 million on temporary housing for foster children awaiting placement between January and October of 2023.

“I’m eager to solve the long-term placement problem, but this piece of legislation doesn’t address that,” Pinson told Bragg. “This piece of legislation is aimed at getting kids out of hotel rooms and motels.

There was no fiscal note available for the bill from DoHS, though the bill has a second reference to the House Finance Committee. The bill contemplates funding from the general revenue budget, as well as federal child welfare grants, private partnerships, and community collaborations.

“I think it’s important for us to realize that during that window of a child’s life, they’re experiencing things that most of us will never experience – by no fault of their own – being removed from their home and being placed in state custody. That’s an experience that not many of us have ever had.

“Not only the Legislature, but (DoHS), child placing agencies, and everyone involved in this has a desire to make sure that we’re just surrounding those children with love and support during this critical time of their life,” Pinson continued.

Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com

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