×

West Virginia lawmakers weigh changes to how child abuse, neglect is reported

Del. Adam Burkhammer believes his bill to improve reporting requirements for child abuse and neglect will ensure alleged cases get investigated. (Photo courtesy of WV Legislative Photography)

CHARLESTON — Changes could be coming to how child abuse and neglect cases are reported and investigated by West Virginia’s Child Protective Services if lawmakers pass a bill under consideration.

House Bill 2377, relating to child welfare, received its first review Thursday before the House Health and Human Resources Committee, with a mark-up and discussion of the bill likely to be scheduled next week.

HB 2377 proposes significant changes to existing laws regarding the reporting of child abuse and neglect in the state to the Department of Human Services (DoHS), aiming for increased transparency and accountability.

The bill was one of several draft bills presented to lawmakers during legislative interim meetings last November to reform the state child welfare system by Del. Adam Pinson, R-Mason; state Sen. Vince Deeds, R-Greenbrier; and Del. Adam Burkhammer, R-Lewis.

Burkhammer, the lead sponsor of HB 2377, said in an interview Thursday following the House floor session that the legislation is borne from several incidents over the years where child abuse and neglect cases fell through the cracks at CPS.

“This did not come out of one specific case, but we all know that there are several cases throughout the state that have got some publicity and have received some attention. We are dealing with that,” Burkhammer said. “We’re trying to talk more generally and prevent those types of cases…from happening.”

The bill reinforces requirements for the immediate reporting of child abuse and neglect to the Bureau for Social Services via a 24/7 hotline or web-based reporting, requiring that both reporting systems provide the individual doing the report with a specific case identifier.

“The main complaint is mandatory reporters are calling in, and they’re not getting any feedback if the call or the email form was accepted and where it’s at in the process,” Burkhammer said Thursday afternoon when explaining HB 2377 to committee members. “They’re having to call back multiple times, which is overloading centralized intake.”

HB 2377 would prohibit the Bureau for Social Services from screening out any reports made by mandatory reporters to ensure that all reports from professionals legally obligated to report instances of child abuse and neglect – including teachers, medical professionals, law enforcement, coaches, camp counselors, etc. – are thoroughly reviewed. The bureau would also be required to act on all reports, even those made outside the specified phone or email methods, such as in-person.

“We’re just trying to bring consistency through it,” Burkhammer said. “We understand that there are times that we’re not able to get out and get the investigations done in a timely manner, or maybe they’re not being reported in the exact fashion through central intake. We are trying to address some of the mandatory reporting requirements, as well as when reports are made outside of centralized.”

Changes would also be made to the Child Welfare Dashboard maintained by DoHS, requiring monthly reporting of data by July 1, including new reports on performance indicators for case intake, investigation, open cases, out-of-home placements, and federally mandated metrics like “time to first contact” and information on “children in non-placement or temporary lodging status.”

The dashboard also must include information on child fatality and near fatality information within 48 hours of the reported death or near-fatality subject to review by a new Critical Incident Review Team created by the bill. Data would include the child’s initials, county of residence, date of the incident, sex, age, and race/ethnicity.

The bill creates a Critical Incident Review Team that would review all fatalities and near fatalities involving children involved in the child welfare system to make recommendations “to identify effective prevention and intervention processes to decrease preventable child fatalities and near fatalities in the child welfare system.”

Members of this review committee would include representatives of DoHS, the judicial system, law enforcement, prosecuting attorneys, and legislators. The team must meet at least quarterly, and within 10 days a child fatality or near-fatality to conduct reviews. An initial report must be filed within 30 days of the fatality or near-fatality” to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Health and Human Resources Accountability, as well as an annual report.

“We are looking at some transparency in reporting, being able to get information back to the Legislature so that we can truly solve problems, and those problems will be identified in that data and information,” Burkhammer said.

The dashboard must provide a link to the Critical Incident Review Team’s final report within 24 hours of completion. The commissioner of the Bureau of Social Services is also required to send a report on child fatalities or near fatalities to the Office of Inspector General within 24 hours to convene the Critical Incident Review Team. The bill would grant the Foster Care Ombudsman greater access to information related to child abuse and neglect cases in the course of their official duties.

One of the incidents that spurred the drafting of HB 2377 was the death of 14-year-old Boone County girl Kyneddi Miller earlier last year and DoHS’s response in the wake of that death. Law enforcement officers in Boone County found Miller in what they called a “skeletal state” due to years of malnutrition. Miller’s mother and grandparents are facing criminal charges.

Cynthia Persily, the former DoHS cabinet secretary under former governor Jim Justice, issued a statement shortly after Miller’s death following media scrutiny, expressing remorse for the death of the child but stating that no information regarding the girl or any current of previous investigations would be released by the department. It was later reported that Miller’s name had appeared in two prior CPS cases involving her family in 2009 and 2017.

The federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) requires states to provide public disclosure about cases of child abuse or neglect resulting in child fatalities or near-fatalities. Data that can be disclosed include the circumstances of the fatality or near-fatality, age and gender and prior reports of abuse and neglect.

DoHS officials at the time stated they are already in compliance with CAPTA requirements by providing very basic child fatality data in an annual report. State Code 49-5-101 states that all records concerning children that DoHS maintains are confidential.

CAPTA requires states to preserve the confidentiality of child abuse and neglect reports to preserve the rights of children and parents/guardians. However, CAPTA does allow states to authorize limited access to information as long as state officials guarantee the safety and well-being of children and parents/guardians.

The West Virginia State Police had also conducted a welfare check on Miller in the spring of 2023, with one trooper stating in audio recordings that he was making a CPS referral and GPS data showing he went directly to the regional DoHS office to make the referral in person. However, an internal investigation by the Governor’s Office revealed that the trooper, who is now retired, did not follow proper procedures in place since 2015 to use the DoHS child abuse and neglect phone number.

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

Starting at $2.99/week.

Subscribe Today