CHARLESTON, W.Va. — On May 28, Governor Patrick Morrisey announced a series of child welfare reforms aimed at ending years of bureaucratic stonewalling and beginning a new era of transparency. The changes come following a series of listening sessions held across the state with key stakeholders and a thorough review of past child fatalities and near fatalities within the child welfare system.
“In previous years, the state stonewalled about the status of children in its care – and that changes now,” said Governor Morrisey. “We are rolling up our sleeves and getting to work. West Virginians deserve a child welfare system that is transparent, accountable, and always puts the safety of children first.”
“For far too long, we’ve asked families and frontline professionals to navigate a system that has not kept pace with the complexities our families and children face today. That must change,” said Secretary Mayer. “We are listening—intentionally—and using that feedback to shape a more responsive, accountable, and transparent system built on trust. ”
The reforms include:
- Fully complying with the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) and federal guidelines requiring public disclosure of key information in child abuse or neglect cases resulting in fatalities or near fatalities.
- Overhauling the Child Welfare Dashboard to make it simpler to use and easier to interpret the data.
- Requiring supervisors to conduct monthly reviews with their child welfare cases and work with our state office team to identify opportunities for improvement and launching a department-wide “Leadership Education and Development” (LEAD) initiative to better prepare our supervisors.
- Creating a Critical Incident Review Team to conduct a deeper dive into every critical incident.
- Introducing a Comprehensive Practice Model to provide a foundational framework that can be standardized across the state.
- Allowing caseworkers to gather more comprehensive information on cases rather than relying solely on the referral.
