Samples

CHARLESTON — A former deputy secretary of the split-up West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources stated under oath in recent testimony that Child Protective Services should be more transparent to help improve the troubled agency.

Jeremiah Samples, who served as deputy secretary of DHHR from 2013 until being fired by former cabinet secretary Bill Crouch in 2022 due to policy disagreements, testified under oath in an April 18 deposition in a class action lawsuit involving the state’s foster care system.

“There is just not enough transparency in the system to fill some level of assurance that while tragedies will always happen, at least we did our best as a state and a government to address them,” Samples said. “And I don’t believe we are at that stage right now.”

The class action lawsuit, filed in 2019 by attorneys representing 12 children in the state’s foster system, alleges foster children in the state are often housed either in hotels, shelters, institutions or out of state and are subject to abuse and neglect.

Samples, now a senior advisor to the West Virginia Legislature’s Joint Committee on Government and Finance, testified on numerous issues involving the foster care system and CPS, both during his time as a former DHHR official and as part of his current duties advising lawmakers on matters related to the three departments that were divided from DHHR: the departments of Health, Human Services, and Health Facilities.

Samples was specifically asked about whether he was aware of any issues going on currently regarding CPS and investigations being improperly done. While not privy to specifics of the investigation, Samples cited recent news stories involving the death in April of 14-year-old Kyneddi Miller.

“…There are other cases like that — heinous things,” Samples said. “And so, if those — and I don’t know if CPS was involved or not. I mean, there’s a lack of clarity frankly that how would we know, you know, in my official position or how would the public know?”

Boone County deputies found Miller in what they called a “skeletal state” due to years of malnutrition. Miller’s mother and grandparents have been charged with child abuse causing neglect. Questions remain as to CPS’ involvement with Miller, with multiple media outlets reporting that a West Virginia State Police trooper conducted a welfare check of the girl’s home last year and made a CPS referral in person. Other reporting has revealed that CPS received referrals about Miller in 2009 and 2017.

Statements from the Department of Human Services and Gov. Jim Justice regarding the Miller case have been confusing. DoHS Cabinet Secretary Cynthia Persily has cited both state and federal law to claim that CPS is unable to legally release any information regarding the Miller case, despite exceptions in both state and federal law requiring certain information involving the fatalities or near-fatalities of children be made public. DoHS believes it follows this by releasing an annual critical incident report.

At one point in April, Justice told reporters at his weekly briefing that CPS was not aware of Miller, walking that statement back two weeks later. Under pressure from reporters, Persily released a statement last week claiming “DoHS never received an abuse or neglect referral relating to the death of Kyneddi Miller, and was therefore not involved in the life of this child prior to her passing.” But in the same statement, she said “previous cases from 2009 and 2017 have nothing to do with the death of this young lady.”

Over the weekend, DoHS released a statement regarding a new incident involving the death of a 3-month-old child on Friday at a Cabell County hospital, though it couldn’t release additional information due to a law enforcement investigation.

During his testimony, Samples told attorneys that CPS had numerous issues toward the end of his tenure at the former DHHR with cases not properly being investigated.

“Cases where referrals were screened out at the point of centralized intake with questions around whether or not that was or was not appropriate,” Samples said.

“Cases where an investigation may have occurred, perhaps multiple instances where CPS would have gone out and investigated but no substantiated. And the subsequent to … that event or series of events, a tragedy occurs, or other information comes out that would lead one to believe that how could this information have been missed in a proper investigation.”

According to Samples, the Foster Care Ombudsman’s Office – created by the Legislature in 2019 within the Inspector General’s Office within and independent of the Department of Health — was given authority in 2023 by lawmakers to establish statewide procedures to receive, investigate, and resolve complaints on the ombudsman’s own authority regarding children subject to abuse and neglect and children who have died.

However, Samples said DoHS was not providing the information to the Foster Care Ombudsman’s Office. Bills to further clarify the Foster Care Ombudsman’s authority regarding child abuse and neglect investigations did not pass during the 2024 legislative session earlier this year.

“We thought we had fixed the issue, but then it became apparent in late 2023 … it may have been early 2024, that this information was still not being provided,” Samples said. “And in those latter conversations (with the Foster Care Ombudsman’s Office) specifically, it was mentioned that Ms. (Cammie) Chapman (the deputy secretary of Children and Adult Services) was a barrier to that … It was relayed that it was the interpretation of the department and Ms. Chapman that the ombudsman would not have access to that information.”

Samples acknowledged the enormous challenges CPS has faced over the past decade exacerbated by the substance use disorder crisis that has resulted in the explosion of children in the state’s foster care system. As of the end of April, more than 6,000 children are in state custody. The state also suffers from shortages of CPS workers, with 82% of positions filled as of April 30. But Samples said transparency, openness, and accountability are key in making improvements to the system.

“… The system is overwhelmed and has been for several years now,” Samples said. “And I believe that the policy fix is really … around accountability and transparency as opposed to any specific lever that could be pulled that would magically fix the system.

“It doesn’t matter what policies you try, A, B, or C,” Samples continued. “If you have transparency and accountability, then you can course correct as appropriate quickly. And West Virginia is a small state relatively speaking. I think we can adjust course more quickly than a Texas, Florida, California, etc. But we have to be transparent and hold ourselves accountable to accomplish that.”