Jeffrey Pack, commissioner of the Bureau for Social Services for the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, said he agrees that an in-state facility is needed for children who are a danger to themselves or others to avoid sending them out of state or holding them in limbo in hotels and department offices. (Photo by W.Va. Legislative Photography)
CHARLESTON — A circuit court judge said Monday it was too soon to say whether recent changes made by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources to help retain and recruit child welfare workers is working, but that his judicial circuit remains swamped with cases.
The Joint Standing Committee on the Judiciary heard presentations on child welfare Monday morning on the second day of October legislative interim meetings at the Capitol in Charleston.
“This Legislature has made pretty substantial investments of time and work on legislation to try to address some of the problems that we’ve seen and heard about around the state with respect to Child Protective Services and children in danger of abuse and neglect,” said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Trump, R-Morgan. “We thought it would be a good idea, maybe today, to have some further conversation on the subject, first and foremost to see how things are going or seem to be going.”
The committee heard from 23rd Judicial Circuit Judge R. Steven Redding, whose circuit includes Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan counties. Redding has spent nearly a decade as a guardian ad litem and representing children in abuse and neglect cases before being appointed and elected as a judge in 2018.
According to the most recent statistics from the state Supreme Court, circuit courts handled 5,258 child abuse and neglect cases in 2022 with the 23rd Judicial Circuit handling 227 abuse and neglect cases that year.
But Redding said that doesn’t count the hundreds of pending cases awaiting adjudication due to a backlog of referrals to CPS, especially in Eastern Panhandle counties.
Redding cited a 2004 court order from former Berkeley County Judge David Sanders, where he criticized DHHR for being “dangerously understaffed” in the Eastern Panhandle.
“This is not a new crisis,” Redding said. “While CPS has been affected by the opioid pandemic, we in the Eastern Panhandle have been in and out of crisis in the CPS arena for decades … that clarion call from Judge Sanders almost 20 years ago remains unfulfilled.”
Redding said that CPS has a referral backlog in the Eastern Panhandle of more than 400 cases. Some of the issues courts in the Eastern Panhandle are experiencing involve the department’s inability to complete critical tasks in a timely fashion, as well as payment of invoices by DHHR to department vendors, such as for drug testing or psychological services, months after the invoices are issued.
Redding cited issues with making referrals to CPS and the number of juvenile delinquency cases, with delays of weeks and months before cases are closed. Redding also said court-ordered reports prior to 90-day hearings are rarely filed in a timely manner.
“As a consequence, I have no idea what is happening with the children or their parents between hearings,” Redding said. “This places the court in the position of being reactive instead of proactive, which doesn’t serve our families.”
In the 23rd circuit, between 200 and 275 new abuse and neglect cases are annually filed, but only two out of the six judges on the circuit hear abuse and neglect cases who have to balance those cases on top of their full docket. Sometimes CPS has to file for continuances to complete requests for discovery in pending abuse and neglect cases, causing delays of weeks or months in cases.
“Our hearing calendars are booked out for months,” Redding said. “If a disposition hearing is continued because the department failed to file…submissions and a case plan, it’s often two to three months before another date on the docket is available. This creates an unnecessary delay in obtaining permanency for the children in our care.”
DHHR has implemented a number of incentives to recruit and retain CPS workers both across the state and in the Eastern Panhandle. These include a 20% salary increase for CPS, Adult Protective Services, and Youth Services classifications; and a $2,500 sign-on bonus for CPS workers in Cabell, Calhoun, Clay, Fayette, Gilmer, Grant, Greenbrier, Hardy, Harrison, Kanawha, Lewis, Logan, Marion, Mercer, Mineral, Mingo, Monongalia, Monroe, Nicholas, Pocahontas, Preston, Roane, Summers, Taylor, Wayne and Webster counties.
In Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan counties, the sign-on bonus for CPS and Youth Service workers is $5,000 for a one-year commitment in order to compete with neighboring Virginia and Maryland. While Redding praised Gov. Jim Justice, DHHR officials, and the Legislature for focusing on pay issues, Redding said it was too soon to know if the incentives will work.
“Circling back to the issue of whether the recent new hires will solve the chronic issues that have plagued the department in the Eastern Panhandle, it is simply too soon to know,” Redding said. “I still have just one ongoing worker for over 125 active abuse and neglect cases … in no event should one worker have more than approximately 30 cases.
Redding said once their training is complete, he will have an additional two CPS workers. But Redding said the jury is still out on whether the new workers will make a difference.
“In fairness to the department, a number of the new hires are still in training,” Redding said. “Thus, whether they will be efficacious in turning the tide on the history of tragic and unnecessary outcomes is yet to be known.”
According to the DHHR Child Welfare Dashboard, 83% of the available CPS positions in the state have been filled. In the Eastern Panhandle, There are only three CPS positions unfilled in Berkeley and Jefferson counties, though the two positions covering Morgan, Grant, Mineral, and Tucker counties are listed as vacant.
Meanwhile, there are 6,186 children in foster care in West Virginia as of the end of August, with 463 children in out-of-state placement. Redding said all efforts are made to keep children in-state, but depending on if the child is a danger to themselves or others, some in-state services providers won’t accept these children, requiring out-of-state placement and sometimes involving sitting at DHHR facilities or hotels until they can be placed out-of-state.
Redding said children over the age of 14 that are a danger to themselves and others can be placed in detention in state juvenile facilities until an in-state placement can be made. But children under the age of 14 have nowhere to go. Redding said DHHR needs to consider creating an in-state facility for these children.
“Because we don’t have facilities for these children, we cannot send them home because of the dangers involved,” Redding said. “We end up in a twilight zone where we have no real compelling choice to make for where we place them.”
Jeffrey Pack, commissioner of the Bureau for Social Services for DHHR, said he agrees that an in-state facility is needed for children who are a danger to themselves or others to avoid sending them out-of-state or holding them in limbo in hotels and department offices. Pack said conversations are ongoing with a for-profit provider.
“I can say that there is never a week that goes by when there is not some level of conversation that is occurring – whether that is the Bureau of Social Services, the Bureau of Behavioral Health, or the Bureau for Medical Services,” Pack said.
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2023-10-17 05:12:20
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