As the weather gets colder and snow mixes with the drifting leaves, most of us are grateful for the knowledge that a cozy home awaits us at the end of a long day. But thousands of West Virginians are experiencing both sheltered and unsheltered homelessness — and according to data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, their number is growing.

Meanwhile, a SchoolHouse Connection report for 2024-25 estimated more than 15,000 students do not have a stable place to sleep — and those are just the ones that have come to the attention of the public school system.

Those exiting the foster care system are significantly more likely to experience housing instability. During this National Homeless Youth Awareness Month, the West Virginia Department of Human Services is reminding young people of the resources available: housing assistance through the Foster Youth to Independence program, transitional living services, education and training support through the Mentoring and Oversight for Developing Independence with Former Foster Youth program, guidance on getting medical coverage up to age 26 for those who were in foster care, independent living subsidies and education and training vouchers, and mental and behavioral health services through Regional Transition Navigator Services.

Housing support is also available with the help of the WV Navigate Resource Directory, Help4WV and local continuum of care partners.

But for the more-than 6,000 children in state custody in West Virginia, transitioning out of foster care is far from their minds, as a shortage of caseworkers and foster families is leaving many young people without the support that comes from being not in a group home or hotel, but placed with a family where they are less likely to fall through the cracks to begin with.

In fact, November is also National Adoption Month.

“You’d have to live under a rock in West Virginia to not know that our foster care system is busting at the seams,” Beckley attorney Bob Noone told WVVA earlier this week. “And we have so many children in foster care, much higher than the national average.”

Noone’s practice focuses on adoption, and he told WVVA he has helped more than 2,000 children find their families through adoption.

Many more need to step up — perhaps even become foster or adoptive parents — as the crisis faced by Mountain State youth shows no signs of lessening.

“Say in the past decade, I can count the successful reunifications on one hand,” Noone said. “So that means the children [who need] a loving and caring home are going to need foster parents and for them to become a forever family they’re going to need an adoption.”

State officials are supporting these young people as best they can. West Virginia kids need more. They need a place to call home.