Dems call foster care reform efforts too slow
Trending
CHARLESTON -- With nearly 30 days left in the 60-day legislative session, several bills dealing with the state's massive foster care system are stuck in committees with only one bill passing a single chamber.
Democratic lawmakers in the Senate and House of Delegates held a press conference Monday morning criticizing Republican legislative leadership for not moving with more urgency on the bills that could help improve the foster care system, as well as help children overcome issues with poverty and trauma.
"We come with a very simple message this morning and that message is West Virginia kids come first," said Stephen Baldwin, D-Greenbrier, said. "Those are our West Virginia values and we believe they are shared West Virginia values that we need to act upon."
Republican lawmakers are too focused on legislation to phase out the business and inventory tax on manufacturing machinery and equipment, which would eliminate approximately $100 million in tax revenue to county governments and school systems, Baldwin said. Another bill to create an intermediate appellate court would cost the state as much as $7 million, he said.
All the while only four bills have completed legislative action and await the signature of Gov. Jim Justice, he said. Thursday marks the halfway point of the session.
"Unfortunately, at this point we're almost at the halfway point of the session and we're afraid that Republican leadership is focused elsewhere," Baldwin said.
"All the while we're hearing from our colleagues that we just simply can't afford to take care of the kids needs that we're continually trying to raise."
Twelve bills were introduced in the West Virginia Legislature that deal with foster care since the start of the session on Jan. 8.
Of the two foster care bills adopted by the House Health and Human Resources Committee, only one has been passed by the House and sent to the Senate.
House Bill 4094 gives additional duties to the foster care ombudsman, a position created by House Bill 2010 passed last year by the Legislature. Pamela Woodman-Kaehler was appointed to the position late last year. HB 4094 is awaiting action in the Senate Select Committee on Children and Families.
House Bill 4092 is awaiting action by the House Finance Committee after proceeding through the Health and Human Resources and Judiciary committees. The bill creates the foster children's bill of rights and the foster parents and kinship bill of rights. Violation of any of these rights shall be investigated by the foster care ombudsman.
Payment rates also are updated in the bill, with child placement agencies being paid a rate of $75 per day per child, with foster parents receiving at least 40 percent of the rate, or a minimum of $30 per day.
For kinship parents, a floor of $900 per month per child is set.
Delegate Lisa Zukoff, D-Marshall, said the bill has been delayed by Republican leadership over concerns about the $16 million price tag for the rate increases, particularly over the increase for kinship placements.
"Those kinship families are grandparents on a fixed income taking care of their grandchildren," Zukoff said. "My understanding is that that $16 million is a big bone of contention because we don't want anything that's going to increase the revenue that the state has to put out."
"If you're a kinship family, you can have up to six kids, but the maximum amount you can receive a month is about $288," Delegate Amanda Estep-Burton, D-Kanawha, said. "This will take their rate to the same rate as the foster care families. The foster care bill of rights puts West Virginia families first by protecting our children and giving...the foster families, the parents, and the foster kids a voice."
Speaking Monday morning before the House Finance Committee, Deputy Secretary Jeremiah Samples of the Department of Health and Human Resources said the agency is reviewing the bill.
"There's a lot of questions that we're working through in terms of certified non-certified kinship and things like that," Samples said. "It's a very, very complicated bill to fiscally analyze, but we're trying everything we can to work into that $14.9 million the $4.9 million increase that would be envisioned as a part of that bill that is in the House."
According to department records, 7,037 children are in foster care placement as of January, increase of 276 children since last year. The state is being sued by three groups over its treatment of foster children.
Additional bills Democratic lawmakers would like to see taken up include screening children for adverse childhood experiences and the creation of trauma-informed elementary schools to help children living in poverty, homeless conditions or in homes where there are drugs or physical and emotional abuse.