(Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection - Editor's Notes by Christina Myer)

If West Virginia lawmakers are looking to reduce rates on something, there is another issue that should be commanding their attention. The Mountain State’s foster care rate is eight times the national average. It is one of the few categories in which we are — shamefully — first in the country.

According to a report by WVVA, fiscal years 2023-24 foster care records from the Administration for Children and Family Services (part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) show West Virginia’s removal rate at 83.40 children per 100,000. That’s nearly 300 children annually.

According to WVVA’s report, the data showed high removal rates can be attributed to factors that are painfully well-known to West Virginians. A leading factor is parental abandonment, which can often be attributed to mental health problems, substance use, inadequate support systems and poverty.

In other words, so many of the factors we need to address — starting with expanding and diversifying our economy in a way that helps lift all West Virginians — are harming the next generation to a degree that will make the cycle even harder to break.

As WVVA’s report points out, there are efforts made in other states in our region that have kept foster care rates drastically lower than West Virginia’s. Neighboring Virginia, for example, may do a better job supporting social services funding and resources, substance abuse treatment and prevention, preventive family services and even developing a better foster care infrastructure.

Because those kinds of changes do not happen overnight (and here our economic woes create a challenge that is unmatched almost anywhere else), there is little indication rates in West Virginia will be reduced any time soon. That leads to the next problem. There is a shortage of those willing to be foster or adoptive families for these at-risk, vulnerable kids.

Just this month, a report by West Virginia Watch cited state data that shows we are spending approximately $62 million to put foster care children in out-of-state facilities.

I’m guessing that is not doing much to break the cycle.

But there are organizations all over the state willing to provide resources and support for those looking to make a difference for these kids — not just through foster care but adoption as well. Mission West Virginia, KVC and the Children’s Home Society of West Virginia are just a few.

We live in a place full of people who drone on about how important children and families are to them. Those political talking points have done little to improve the lives of too many REAL children and their families in the Mountain State.

While lawmakers slowly do their work to address many of the root causes of poverty and suffering here, those who have a heart for it and are able must consider whether they could be doing a world of good for kids who have nowhere else to turn.

Christina Myer is executive editor of The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. She can be reached via e-mail at cmyer@newsandsentinel.com.