West Virginia
West Virginia judge orders monitor for foster kids in hotels as another dismisses a federal suit
A West Virginia judge ordered that a monitor be put in place to oversee state child protective services placements in hotels and camps on Friday after a 12-year-old boy in state care attempted suicide in a hotel room last week.
The action came the same day a federal judge dismissed a yearslong sweeping class action lawsuit against West Virginia’s welfare system on behalf of foster children.
Circuit Court Judge Maryclaire Akers said the West Virginia Department of Human Services will be under an “improvement period” for a year under her appointed monitor, Cindy Largent-Hill, the state Supreme Court’s children’s services division director. Akers ordered that Hill collect data and create public reports on children being housed in unlicensed facilities after “troubling reports” of kids being housed in hotels and 4H camps, attacking staff and each other, experiencing suicidal and homicidal thoughts and being restrained.
“What we cannot have are continued failures of that magnitude,” she said.
Children across the country have for years been housed in offices, camps, hotels and even sometimes jails as states have struggled to find emergency placements — especially those with the most complex mental health, medical or physical needs that make finding a placement with a foster family more challenging.
Just last month in Kentucky, Auditor Allison Ball described “deeply concerning issues impacting foster children.” Ball said she planned to conduct a broader investigation after a preliminary review found dozens of foster children ranging from teens to toddlers spent nights sleeping in social services buildings while awaiting placement by a state agency.
In 2020, the state of Kansas settled a class-action lawsuit filed by child care advocates. The settlement required the state to stop sheltering foster children in hotels, motels, cars, stores, offices, unlicensed homes or any other non-child-welfare housing.
Largely overwhelmed by the opioid epidemic in a state with the most overdose deaths per capita, West Virginia has the highest rate of children in foster care — currently more than 6,000 in a state of about 1.8 million.
The class action lawsuit dismissed Friday was first filed in 2019 and alleged the state’s foster care children’s needs have gone unmet because of a shortage of caseworkers, an overreliance on institutionalization and a lack of mental health support.
In dismissing the case Friday, U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin recognized that “there are children who deeply suffer in the custody of the state,” but that his court didn’t have jurisdiction. He said “state government retains every tool” to improve the foster care system, and elected officials are “entrusted and obligated” to do so — not the courts.
A federal appeals court in 2022 had revived the lawsuit that another federal judge in Charleston had dismissed in 2021.
In Kanawha County Court, Akers said a 12-year-old boy in state care who was being housed in a Charleston-area hotel attempted suicide last week, three days after being removed from an unsuccessful foster care placement. The child had “very serious, dynamic needs” resulting from trauma he experienced with his biological family and multiple different foster placements and has had to be hospitalized in the past for mental health challenges, Akers said in court.
Akers said she grew concerned after the incident wasn’t disclosed to the guardian ad litem representing the child or during a scheduled review hearing of the child’s case. The judge said the court also wasn’t made aware that the state was housing the child in a hotel, and that it wasn’t the first example of a failure by the state to disclose such information.
After investigating, Akers discovered the communication breakdown occurred because a Child Protective Services worker was out sick. She said procedures should be implemented to prevent such oversights in the future and that the state has a “moral and legal responsibility” to do so.
“Those without power here are the children,” she said. “They have to live where they’re told. They have to go where they’re told. So it’s incumbent upon all of us to protect them.”
West Virginia Department of Human Services Cabinet Secretary Alex Mayer, who began work in West Virginia about a month ago after leading child protective services in South Dakota, said he began meeting with providers to see what can be done to improve the system even before Akers’ order. “Coming into this role, I knew it was broken, because it’s broken across the country,” he said.
Mayer said he welcomed the implementation of the monitor.
“If we didn’t have to have children in hotels, we don’t want them in hotels,” he said. “We want them in appropriate levels of care where they can start either getting treatment that they need or they can be in a loving home to receive support while their family goes through the court process.”
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Associated Press journalist John Raby contributed to this report.
BRIDGEPORT, W.Va (WDTV) – The West Virginia Governor’s Highway Safety Program will conduct its annual “Click It or Ticket” high-visibility enforcement campaign during the Memorial Day travel period.
National enforcement runs from May 18 through May 31. West Virginia’s state-specific enforcement begins May 11 and ends May 25.
Travelers will see increased patrols by state and local law enforcement during this time. Officers will ensure every driver and passenger is buckled up correctly.
This year’s campaign focuses on nighttime enforcement. Data shows that a higher number of unrestrained fatalities occur during nighttime hours.
Copyright 2026 WDTV. All rights reserved.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — As scammers become more sophisticated, the West Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles is warning the public about new and continuing scams circulating around the country.
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Scams play on fear and request immediate action.
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Scams rely on something you didn’t know you owed, because you don’t.
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Scams rely on confusion. Some common themes of recent scams are unpaid parking violations or turnpike tolls. DMV does not collect these.
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Recent scams pretending to be DMV have arrived by text, but scams can be delivered on paper or by email. A recent scam claiming to be from Kanawha County Municipal Court even used the state seal.
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As scams become more sophisticated, they can look like real communications, so if you are unsure you can call DMV at (800) 642-9066 to verify if you receive something suspicious claiming to be DMV.
Continued focus on making the public aware of scams is necessary as scams continue to evolve. Please share the word with family, co-workers and friends who may not be on social media or watching the news.
DMV’s website is dmv.wv.gov, and its toll-free phone number is (800) 642-9066. DMV will always take the time to answer guests’ questions.
York PA installation about Articles of Confederation completed
The long-awaited Hard Bargains installation explaining and exploring the Articles of Confederation has been completed near York County History Center.
The Pennsylvania Office of State Inspector General filed charges in York County against a West Virginia man and woman, who allegedly got thousands of dollars in COVID-era rent assistance funds under false pretenses.
Chester Joseph Little, 41, and Dawn Lea Caltrider, 43, of Orma, West Virginia face felony theft and forgery charges filed Monday, May 4, in York County in connection with getting funds through the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) through filing fraudulent applications.
According to court documents, on Nov. 8, 2023, the assistant director of the York County Department of Human Services contacted the Office of the State Inspector General about suspicious ERAP applications and suspected that Little and Caltrider received funds under false pretenses.
On Sept. 24, 2021, court records indicate that Caltrider applied for ERAP funds for rental assistance for a residence in the 1500 block of Route 116 in Spring Grove, which Little claimed was his property and was paid $1,500 a month in rent and had not been paid between February 2021 to October 2021. Little asked York County Community Progress Council (CPC) to pay him for the months Caltrider was behind in rent plus rent for October 2021 through January 2022 and $18,400 was deposited in Little’s bank account.
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It was later found that the owner of the property on Route 116 was Caltrider’s sister. Caltrider and Little had lived there for a period before they moved out. Little had allegedly presented a fake lease and mortgage agreement as part of the ERAP application, and Caltrider falsely claimed she lived at the address.
Court documents also indicated that Little signed an application for ERAP benefits Oct. 6, 2021 for a home in the 400 block of Rear Pleasant Street in Hanover and reported Caltrider as his landlord. Caltrider allegedly filled out the landlord portion of the application and said that she was paid $2,000 a month and Little had not paid rent from February 2021 to October 2021. She applied to the York County Community Progress Council (CPC) to pay her what was in arrears plus rent from November 2021 through January 2022 and requested funds, totaling $24,000, be deposited into her bank account.
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A 2023 investigation uncovered that the property in the 400 block of Rear Pleasant Street was a self-storage business and was not owned by Caltrider, who allegedly presented a fake lease and homeowner insurance policy as part of the ERAP application.
More charges were filed against Caltrider after she allegedly provided another false application on Oct. 22, 2021. According to court documents, Caltrider applied for rental assistance for an address in the first block of Abbie Road in Spring Garden Township posing as her daughter and claimed to be the landlord of the address and received $17,200 in ERAP funds. Investigators found that the daughter had never lived at the address after questioning her. Authorities say Caltrider presented a fake lease and homeowner insurance policy and presented an altered Pennsylvania birth certificate in that case.
Caltrider alone faces five counts of felony forgery and one felony count each for identity theft, theft by unlawful taking and theft by deception in this particular case.
As of Wednesday, May 6, neither Little nor Caltrider had seen a judge regarding the charges.
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