Foster Care in West Virginia
Chapter 49 of the West Virginia Code empowers and requires the WV Department of Health and Human Resources (WVDHHR) to investigate reports of child abuse and neglect. This investigation is done by Child Protective Services social workers, occasionally with the help of local or State police officers. The emphasis is placed on preservation of the family unit and programs and services are available to ensure that all reasonable efforts are made to achieve that goal as long as the child is not at risk. This evaluation is done by using the Child At Risk Field system (CARF) to assess the family's functioning, level of risk, and the safety of the child. Children are removed only if in imminent danger or if their safety cannot be assured.
Foster Care Placement Resources
West Virginia's system includes both public and private placement resources. However, both systems are administered through WVDHHR and the private chains are seen as resources to the Agency, not as "stand-alone" facilities who take care of the child's total needs (legal custody is usually given to DHHR). The average foster home is one recruited, trained, evaluated, and certified by Agency employees called Homefinders. This foster home may take any type of child but the foster parent will specify the age, race, sex, etc. of the child that they will accept. The private sector maintains its own staff and the choices of children they service are more narrowly defined and prescribed by their agency. Specialized foster care developed because of a lack of regular foster homes who would accept teen-agers and those with severe behavior problems. Group facilities, for the most part, are privately owned and operated but must be licensed by WVDHHR.
How Placements Are Made
If an out-of-home placement is required, the first stop is usually an emergency shelter home. This can be and usually is a family setting although there are some private group shelters around the State who take older children or those who have known behavior problems. Emergency Shelter is designed to be a short-term placement although some may continue for several months because resources are being explored or the legal situation has not been resolved.
The next step, which is preferred, is to try to place the child with someone else in his or her family. If that is not possible, regular foster placement is explored, followed by a specialized foster home or group home placement if a regular home fails or is not appropriate. Group care can be within or outside of the State although in-state placements are preferred. Group care can also include residential treatment facilities, hospital settings, or long-term medical/residential settings similar to nursing homes. All is dependent on the needs of the child.
So, You Want To Be A Foster Parent!
People interested in becoming a foster parent contact WVDHHR or a specialized foster care chain. The process that leads toward certification in both arenas is very similar. The first step is usually to attend orientation training which is more detailed and of longer duration through the private chains. This is because the type of children served is different. Their initial training may be around 40 hours while DHHR's is only about 10-12 hrs. The next step is for the applicant to complete a homestudy which includes interviews, reference contacts, physical exams, criminal record check, and a CPS record check in the applicant's county of residence. At this time, there is no central registry of neglect/abuse perpetrators although the creation of one was mandated by the 1996 Legislature. An applicant can be single, widowed, divorced or married, with or without children. Two adults living together must be married (license is verified). Common law marriages are not recognized in West Virginia. Both sectors evaluate their applicants by set standards plus the judgment of the staff. Group decisions are usually made on whether or not to certify the applicants. The specialized foster parents are sometimes called treatment parents and their status is often viewed more as an employee than their counterparts in DHHR. Their pay is much more than the DHHR foster parents and it is considered essentially as income while the DHHR "pay" is considered a reimbursement.
Foster Care Benefits
Each child placed in foster care receives a Medicaid card and a boarding care check. The boarding care rate and structure changed in July, 1995 from one based on the age of the child to a flat rate for all children. Currently (4/96), that rate is $400 per child. The medical coverage is comprehensive and different from the standard medical card since the State has legal custody of the children and are responsible for their care.
Foster Care Philosophy
Essentially, foster care in West Virginia encompasses a "family focused, child-centered" approach. That means that the well-being of the child is of utmost importance but family preservation is also an important goal. Permanency plans are developed as soon as possible and some sort of major review is done every six months to insure that the children are not "warehoused" or become lost in the system. This philosophy also means that an important goal is to make the child's first out-of-home placement...the only placement they will ever have. This means that if a child returns home and then comes back into the system that they will return to the same foster home if possible to minimize adjustment problems.
Foster Care Discipline Policy
The discipline policy prohibits corporal punishment of any child within the system whether they be in the public or private sector. That includes spanking or hitting a child in any matter. It also includes the "tapping" or "smacking" of hands that parents routinely do of toddler-aged children. Verbal humiliation, deprivation of food, and locking or closing the child in a room are some of the other components of the policy. Any violation of policy is examined by the Homefinder or a CPS worker depending on whether it appears to be neglect/abuse or non-compliance with foster care policy. If it is determined that a violation occurred usually a service plan is instituted if the foster parent is willing to cooperate. If they are not or the incident is serious, the child is removed, the home is closed, and, in the case of serious incidence, a regular CPS investigation is done.
The Policy emphasizes and encourages positive interventions and strategies for foster parents to use. The section of pre-service training dealing with discipline includes acceptable ways to discipline the children as well as detailing the "no-nos" of the policy.
The Legal Environment
As in most states, the foster care system in West Virginia is heavily influenced by the court system and all of its components. Each child in custody is appointed a Guardian Ad Litem, an attorney who is their legal representative. The birth parents are each appointed legal representation. WVDHHR is represented on the local level by the county prosecuting attorney and their staff. The private foster care homes/workers do not go to court, unless called as witnesses. The DHHR social worker, who is ultimately the child's social worker, handles all of the legal work.
Until recently, natural parents could ask for and almost automatically be granted improvement periods. During this time, the judge would prescribe how long the period would be and what the parents would have to do before custody of their children was returned to them. Improvement periods were usually six months in length and were often routinely extended several times even though they were supposed to be limited to a total of twelve months. However, in 1996 the State Legislature passed a law limiting the total of months to nine, placed more accountability on the court judges to comply, and made improvement periods optional depending on the court's sense of the natural parents' sincerity, ability to change, etc. Additionally, there have been two State Supreme Court decisions that have heavily impacted on child welfare issues. Although it is to early to evaluates these changes, it is felt that termination of parental rights will occur more readily than before and create more of a "best interests of the child" type of atmosphere.
Community Involvement
In the last few years, West Virginia has greatly expanded public and private initiatives to develop community involvement. The Governor's Cabinet on Children and Families began and has continued to bring the needs of families to the forefront by disseminating information, creating "spin off" groups, and advocating for changes in healthcare, social services, legislation etc. One of these concepts led to the development of Family Resource Networks (FRNs) around the State. The State has been getting a lot of national attention, encouragement, and funding for these innovative programs and is one of two states continuing this initiative as a pilot project for potential federal programs. There are currently about 31 FRNs in place, eventually all 55 counties will have one. Their composition, philosophy and impetus is community-driven consequently, no two groups are the same and develop around the needs of the community not from the requirements of the funding source. On-site work and school daycare centers, family recreation centers, and healthcare screenings are just some of the projects that have been developed by these networks. As mentioned above, private organizations have been develop as a direct result of the community assessments done. Once the needs in the area have been discovered, the group pursues resources or options to improve the situation. In doing so they often inspire a businessman to create a new organization to handle the need or "re-tool" their existing company. Additionally, the WVDHHR, the biggest provider of family services within the State, has reorganized and hired local Community Service Managers who are charged with coordinating the above efforts as well offering resources to the community.
Credits: Emil Baldwin, Jr., LSW
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