State officials look to limit number of W.Va. youth in out-of-state placement facilities

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS) — West Virginia is trying to bring home more than 300 children placed in expensive out-of-state treatment by the child welfare system.

Tuesday Gov. Patrick Morrisey revealed plans to create what the state is calling a home base initiative fund. It would allow for renovations and repairs to existing state buildings if it helps keep from sending troubled children to out-of-state placement facilities.

Out-of-state placements – now serving about 380 youth – cost about $156,000 per child and are undesirable due to separating families.

“We want to create a new revolving investment fund in order to make sure we’re building our existing state-owned facilities,” Morrisey said. “Those dollars are going to be used to renovate and repair existing state property by providing high acute psychiatric, neural-developmental and trauma services for kids in West Virginia.”

Morrisey said the details still have to be worked out with the Legislature on this program which is aimed at limiting the number of West Virginia youth kept out-of-state. The governor appears ready to commit $6 million in surplus money toward the effort.

“It’s a huge problem, an expensive problem,” Sen. T. Kevan Bartlett, R-Kanawha, said. “It’s a problem that’s not reflective of our values to send kids away. We’ve got to come up with better answers to take care of kids. It’s the best that we can do. Then we’ve got to come up with something much better. I think that’s what the governor wants to do and I support that completely.”

Morrisey noted children in foster care have at least dropped a little below 6,000. While that number still seems high, Child Protective Services’ backlog has been cut by 50%. Numbers show children removed from a home for substance abuse is down 37%.

“These are the statistics but we shouldn’t be beating our chests,” Morrisey said. “We have a lot more work to do.”