West Virginia

New Information System Aims To Ease Fostering In W.Va. – West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Published

8 months ago

April 10, 2024

New Information System Aims To Ease Fostering In W.Va. – West Virginia Public Broadcasting

During the recent regular session, legislators passed a bill aimed at improving foster care communication and accountability.

House Bill 4975 incorporates foster and kinship parent information systems into the existing Child Welfare Information Technology System.

The bill was the product of two foster parents serving in the West Virginia House of Delegates, Del. Adam Burkhammer, R-Lewis County, and Del. Jonathan Pinson, R-Mason County.

Pinson said they were both elected to the House of Delegates four years ago and have been working to pass this bill since then.

“We immediately found common ground in wanting to improve the current West Virginia foster care system, and the opportunity for folks to help as foster parents and if they choose to adopt out of our foster care crisis,” Pinson said.

Burkhammer said the complex foster care system, combined with Child Protective Services (CPS) investigations and court orders can be intimidating for potential foster parents.

“All of that can be a little overwhelming, and trying to cross-communicate between all of them can be a struggle,” Burkhammer said. “The communication is lacking, so as a parent, you just start to get a little frustrated and feeling in the dark.”

This new communication system will work as an electronic hub for all information on the child’s case.

Pinson said he believes the communication breakdown is no one’s fault, just a symptom of an overburdened system.

“Everybody involved in these children’s cases, are doing their very best and are working really hard,” Pinson said. “But communication among several stakeholders who are all busy, who are all maxed with their caseloads and workloads, just proves to be very, very difficult.”

Burkhammer said access to medical records, in particular, can be vital for a child’s health and well-being in the foster care system.

“When they come into our care, we’re not sure where they’ve been going to the doctor, what medications are they taking, and all of those things,” Burkhammer said. “We also wanted to bring in the health aspect of it, just to give parents the ability to be able to care for the children and make sure everybody’s healthy and safe at the end of the day.”

Pinson said West Virginia leads the nation in the number of children who are currently in state custody per capita. There are more than 6,000 children in West Virginia state care. He said he believes any family who is willing to foster or adopt should have access to information and a smooth transition.

“When a family is willing to open their home and allow these children into their home, we believe that they ought to receive excellent support around their decision to try to help,” Pinson said. “What we find is many times families are less frustrated because they have a child come into their home or children, multiple children come into their home, and they can’t get basic questions answered.”

Pinson said he wants all foster and adoptive parents to have access to the stakeholders and information of the child in their care immediately. The communication portal approved in the bill allows for a digital space for people involved in the child’s care to communicate quickly and effectively.

“They could post this question, they could post this concern or this emergency,” Pinson said. “And everyone involved with that child’s case would see it immediately and get an immediate notification. And then that way, the attorneys who need to know that information, they get it at the same time that the CPS worker gets it, at the same time that the child placing agency worker gets it.”

If you are going to take a foster child out of the state, for example on vacation, Pinson said the foster parent has to ask permission.

“Well, I know families who have had to cancel the family vacation because no one was able to respond to their vacation request in a timely fashion,” Pinson said. “Well, that’s just inappropriate, we can’t have that.”

The bill faced some pushback from lawmakers who were concerned for the children’s privacy and access to confidential records. Burkhammer said the second hurdle for the bill was an overwhelmed CPS staff.

“We were going to create a whole new system and require that the courts and require the placing agencies and require the CPS workers to log in and input information,” Burkhammer said. “And everybody said, ‘Hey, don’t give me one more thing that I’ve got to do. I’m already overwhelmed. We’re understaffed.’ That’s what we have created in this language in the bill that says to reduce redundancy. We’re talking about being able to pull information that they’re already inputting.”

Burkhammer said he wishes the legislature had been able to pass a pay raise for guardian ad litems, lawyers who represent children in court.

“Currently, we’ve only got about 159 guardian ad litems for over 6,000 kids right now, give or take in the foster care system, under the state’s control at this point,” Burkhammer said. “We’re severely overworking our guardian ad litem who are representing these children in the court cases. We’ve got to tackle that situation.”

Both delegates agree the key to fixing all the pervasive issues is communication.

“The problem is we’re just dealing with people, real people, real lives, real problems,” Pinson said. “I believe most anything in life can be solved if proper communication takes place. This bill points everybody involved to the importance of proper communication.”

Pinson said West Virginia’s system isn’t broken, it is just overwhelmed and this bill is an effort to ease that workload, not point any accusing fingers.

“It’s not that our CPS workers just simply don’t care,” Pinson said. “They do care. They care so much that they’re willing to try to make this their livelihood, their life. We have excellent CPS workers, we have excellent child placing agency workers through our foster agencies throughout West Virginia. But there’s just an overwhelming number of people who need the services. And everybody’s caseload is just maxed.”

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Marshall Health.

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West Virginia

How to Watch West Virginia vs. UCF: Time, TV Channel, Live Stream – November 23, 2024

Published

7 hours ago

November 23, 2024

Press Room

Data Skrive

One of the best runners in college football will be featured when RJ Harvey and the UCF Knights (4-6) take on the West Virginia Mountaineers (5-5) on Saturday, November 23, 2024.

Go to ESPNU to watch the Knights battle the Mountaineers.

Keep up with college football all season on FOX Sports.

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Learn more about the UCF Knights and the West Virginia Mountaineers.

How to Watch UCF vs. West Virginia

When: Saturday, November 23, 2024 at 3:30 p.m. ET
Location: Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, West Virginia
Live Box Score: FOX Sports

UCF’s 2024 Schedule

Date	Opponent	Score
8/29/2024	vs. New Hampshire	W 57-3
9/7/2024	vs. Sam Houston	W 45-14
9/14/2024	at TCU	W 35-34
9/28/2024	vs. Colorado	L 48-21
10/5/2024	at Florida	L 24-13
10/12/2024	vs. Cincinnati	L 19-13
10/19/2024	at Iowa State	L 38-35
10/26/2024	vs. BYU	L 37-24
11/2/2024	vs. Arizona	W 56-12
11/9/2024	at Arizona State	L 35-31
11/23/2024	at West Virginia	–
11/29/2024	vs. Utah	–

UCF 2024 Stats & Insights

UCF owns the 57th-ranked defense this season (355.4 yards allowed per game), and has been better on offense, ranking eighth-best with a tally of 464.6 yards per game.
UCF is averaging 201.8 passing yards per game offensively this year (93rd in the FBS), and is giving up 239.5 passing yards per game (96th) on the other side of the ball.
The Knights rank 32nd in scoring offense (33.0 points per game) and 80th in scoring defense (26.4 points allowed per game) this season.
The Knights rank 28th in run defense this year (115.9 rushing yards allowed per game), but they’ve been shining on offense, ranking second-best in the FBS with 262.8 rushing yards per game.
Despite sporting a bottom-25 defense on third down that ranks 22nd-worst in the FBS (44.4% third-down conversion rate), UCF has had more success offensively, ranking 42nd in the FBS by posting a 43.3% third-down conversion rate.
With 11 forced turnovers (96th in the FBS) against 15 turnovers committed (80th in the FBS), the Knights (-4) have the 95th-ranked turnover margin in college football.

UCF 2024 Key Players

Name	Position	Stats
RJ Harvey	RB	1,328 YDS / 19 TD / 132.8 YPG / 6.8 YPC 15 REC / 229 REC YDS / 2 REC TD / 22.9 REC YPG
K.J. Jefferson	QB	1,012 YDS (59.3%) / 7 TD / 4 INT 193 RUSH YDS / 2 RUSH TD / 27.6 RUSH YPG
Kobe Hudson	WR	38 REC / 623 YDS / 3 TD / 62.3 YPG
Jacurri Brown	QB	387 YDS (51.5%) / 1 TD / 4 INT 354 RUSH YDS / 4 RUSH TD / 39.3 RUSH YPG
Deshawn Pace	LB	43 TKL / 2.0 TFL / 2 INT / 2 PD
Quadric Bullard	DB	48 TKL / 1.0 TFL / 1.0 SACK
Nyjalik Kelly	DL	36 TKL / 3.0 TFL / 2.5 SACK
Daylan Dotson	DL	23 TKL / 5.0 TFL / 4.0 SACK

West Virginia’s 2024 Schedule

Date	Opponent	Score
8/31/2024	vs. Penn State	L 34-12
9/7/2024	vs. Albany	W 49-14
9/14/2024	at Pittsburgh	L 38-34
9/21/2024	vs. Kansas	W 32-28
10/5/2024	at Oklahoma State	W 38-14
10/12/2024	vs. Iowa State	L 28-16
10/19/2024	vs. Kansas State	L 45-18
10/26/2024	at Arizona	W 31-26
11/9/2024	at Cincinnati	W 31-24
11/16/2024	vs. Baylor	L 49-35
11/23/2024	vs. UCF	–
11/30/2024	at Texas Tech	–

West Virginia 2024 Stats & Insights

West Virginia ranks 53rd with 400.8 total yards per game on offense, and it ranks 99th with 400.8 total yards allowed per contest on the defensive side of the ball.
West Virginia ranks 91st in passing yards per game (202.3), but it has been worse on the other side of the ball, ranking eighth-worst in the FBS with 269.6 passing yards allowed per contest.
The Mountaineers rank 53rd in the FBS with 29.6 points per game on offense, and they rank 102nd with 30.0 points given up per contest on the defensive side of the ball.
The Mountaineers’ run offense has been leading the way for the team, as they rank 24th-best in the FBS with 198.5 rushing yards per contest. In terms of defense, they are giving up 131.2 rushing yards per game, which ranks 49th.
West Virginia ranks 69th in third-down conversion rate (40.2%) on offense, but it has been less productive on the other side of the ball, ranking eighth-worst in the FBS with a 47.2% third-down percentage allowed.
The Mountaineers sport a -5 turnover margin this season, which ranks 100th in the FBS.

West Virginia 2024 Key Players

Name	Position	Stats
Garrett Greene	QB	1,589 YDS (54.6%) / 11 TD / 9 INT 613 RUSH YDS / 5 RUSH TD / 76.6 RUSH YPG
Jahiem White	RB	639 YDS / 5 TD / 63.9 YPG / 5.5 YPC 12 REC / 94 REC YDS / 1 REC TD / 10.4 REC YPG
CJ Donaldson	RB	525 YDS / 7 TD / 52.5 YPG / 4.6 YPC 5 REC / 20 REC YDS / 1 REC TD / 2.5 REC YPG
Traylon Ray	WR	28 REC / 426 YDS / 4 TD / 42.6 YPG
Josiah Trotter	LB	73 TKL / 3.0 TFL / 0.5 SACK / 1 INT
T.J. Jackson	DL	33 TKL / 12.0 TFL / 5.5 SACK
Anthony Wilson	DB	75 TKL / 0.0 TFL / 1 INT / 1 PD
Trey Lathan	LB	50 TKL / 5.0 TFL / 2.0 SACK

FOX Sports created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

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West Virginia facing challenge in UCF rushing attack led by Harvey

Published

15 hours ago

November 22, 2024

Press Room

West Virginia facing challenge in UCF rushing attack led by Harvey

If West Virginia is going to have success on the defensive side of the ball against UCF it starts with keeping their ground game under control.

And the centerpiece of that is senior running back RJ Harvey.

The Knights are second nationally and top all Power Four programs at 262 yards per game with Harvey playing a major role in that. The Orlando native has rushed for 1,328 yards and 19 touchdowns while averaging almost 7 yards per carry on the season.

It’s no secret that keeping him in check will be critical.

“His ability to break tackles and once he does get past the defensive line and linebackers he gets going really fast,” defensive lineman TJ Jackson said.

Jackson compares Harvey to a bigger Devin Neal from Kansas in large part because of his ability to go from a jump cut to full speed. The running back is one of the most improved players in the country and is playing at an elite level according to head coach Neal Brown.

“Really tough to tackle, can make people miss. Has a great feel for their zone schemes,” Brown said.

UCF will utilize the same inside zone rushing scheme that Baylor was able to rush for 183 yards and it’s going to require some discipline out of the unit. The defense must attack the ball with leverage.

“You got to keep great edges on the defense. You have to keep technique all 11 guys across the board. If you’re the backside guy pursuing the ball then you have to keep technique and keep your shoulders square,” coordinator Jeff Koonz said. “He’s a threat to go anywhere, at any time. He understands blocking, he understands their scheme. It’s a great challenge for us.”

Where Harvey has created the most issues is when he is able to get the safeties and linebackers bottled up and then jump cuts to the outside and outruns the defense for big chunks of yards.

“The key is to contain him and not let him get on the perimeter for explosives,” Brown said.

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Predicting the winners of the 2024 West Virginia high school football playoffs first round

Published

23 hours ago

November 22, 2024

Press Room

Predicting the winners of the 2024 West Virginia high school football playoffs first round

The West Virginia high school playoffs begin tonight with a full slate of games on the table.

Check out who High School On SI predicts will win their first round matchups on Friday, and who will secure a spot in the second round of the WVSSAC postseason.

First-round matchups

(1) Martinsburg vs. (16) Parkersburg

7:00 p.m. Friday

PREDICTION: Martinsburg

(9) Parkersburg South vs. (8) Washington

1:30 p.m. Saturday

PREDICTION: Parkersburg South

(4) Wheeling Park vs. (13) Musselman

7:00 p.m. Friday

PREDICTION: Wheeling Park

(5) Huntington vs. (12) University

1:30 p.m. Saturday

PREDICTION: Huntington

(2) Spring Mills vs. (15) Hedgesville

7:00 p.m. Friday

PREDICTION: Spring Mills

(7) Morgantown vs. (10) Woodrow Wilson

7:00 p.m. Friday

PREDICTION: Morgantown

(3) Jefferson vs. (14) Cabell Midland

1:30 p.m. Saturday

PREDICTION: Jefferson

(6) Hurricane vs. (11) George Washington

7:00 p.m. Friday

PREDICTION: Hurricane

2024 WVSSAC Class AAAA high school football bracket

First-round matchups

(1) Princeton vs. (16) Hampshire

4:00 p.m. Saturday

PREDICTION: Princeton

(8) North Marion vs. (9) Ripley

7:00 p.m. Friday

PREDICTION: North Marion

(4) Hoover vs. (13) Elkins

1:30 p.m. Saturday

PREDICTION: Hoover

(5) Oak Hill vs. (12) Lewis County

7:00 p.m. Friday

PREDICTION: Oak Hill

(2) Fairmont Senior vs. (15) Point Pleasant

7:00 p.m. Friday

PREDICTION: Fairmont Senior

(7) Spring Valley vs. (10) East Fairmont

7:00 p.m. Friday

PREDICTION: Spring Valley

(3) Bridgeport vs. (14) Byrd

7:00 p.m. Friday

PREDICTION: Bridgeport

(6) Nitro vs. (11) Shady Spring

1:30 p.m. Saturday

PREDICTION: Nitro

2024 WVSSAC Class AAA high school football bracket

First-round matchups

(1) Frankfort vs. (16) Westside

1:30 p.m. Saturday

PREDICTION: Frankfort

(9) Bluefield vs. (8) South Harrison

7:00 p.m. Friday

PREDICTION: Bluefield

(4) Williamstown vs. (13) Moorefield

7:00 p.m. Friday

PREDICTION: Williamstown

(5) Wheeling Central Catholic vs. (12) Nicholas County

7:00 p.m. Friday

PREDICTION: Wheeling Central Catholic

(2) Roane County vs. (15) Chapmanville Regional

1:30 p.m. Saturday

PREDICTION: Roane County

(7) Wayne vs. (10) Scott

1:30 p.m. Saturday

PREDICTION: Scott

(3) Independence vs. (14) James Monroe

7:00 p.m. Friday

PREDICTION: Independence

(6) Philip Barbour vs. (11) Clay County

4:00 p.m. Saturday

PREDICTION: Phillip Barbour

2024 WVSSAC Class AA high school football bracket

First-round matchups

(1) Tug Valley vs. (16) Tolsia

1:30 p.m. Saturday

PREDICTION: Tug Valley

(8) Petersburg vs. (9) River View

1:30 p.m. Saturday

PREDICTION: Petersburg

(4) Cameron vs. (13) Valley

7:00 p.m. Friday

PREDICTION: Cameron

(5) Doddridge County vs. (12) Wirt County

1:30 p.m. Saturday

PREDICTION: Doddridge County

(2) Tucker County vs. (15) East Hardy

7:00 p.m. Friday

PREDICTION: Tucker County

(7) Pendleton County vs. (10) Meadow Bridge

7:00 p.m. Friday

PREDICTION: Pendleton County

(3) Wahama vs. (14) Madonna

1:30 p.m. Saturday

PREDICTION: Wahama

(6) Sherman vs. (11) Tyler

7:00 p.m. Friday

PREDICTION: Sherman

2024 WVSSAC Class A high school football bracket

Follow High School On SI throughout the 2024 high school football season for Live Updates, the most up to date Schedules & Scores and complete coverage from the preseason through the state championships!

Be sure to Bookmark High School on SI for all of the latest high school football news.

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— Andy Villamarzo | villamarzo@scorebooklive.com | @sblivesports

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