West Virginia
Us & Them: Our Foster Care Crisis – West Virginia Public Broadcasting
There’s a foster care crisis in America. Nationally, more than 390,000 children are in foster care. In West Virginia, that’s just over 6,000 children who need a safe place to call home. Last year, more than half of all states saw their number of licensed homes drop, some as high as 60 percent. That challenge comes because new foster parents don’t stay in the system for long.
On this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay hears about the shortage of licensed foster homes. Foster care is most often needed because of parental substance use, mental health challenges, poverty and neglect. While official foster care cases are tracked and overseen by state agencies and nonprofit organizations, there are many informal kinds of so-called kinship care that are not official or included in state data. Some experts say the number of those kinship cases drives the stakes of the challenge much higher.
This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council, CRC Foundation and Daywood Foundation. Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond.
“I was in several foster care situations… I think three or four. It always seemed short and seemed as if we were getting bounced around. The hard part was probably just the beginning, how much I just always try to keep my siblings in check. I felt as if, if they behaved in a way, just like the other situations we might get taken away. It feels like yesterday that I got adopted. It went by fast. The things that make me smile was definitely adoption day. ‘Cause I knew, I finally found a family and I could try and live out the rest of my childhood.”
— Dominic Snuffer Photo Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
“You might fall off because of just life experiences that you may be going through. You might have a change in jobs. You might have an illness in your family. You might have a death in the family. And so I used to see for every 100 parents that I recruited, I might get only four to six families actually get a kid into their home for every hundred that would call me and be interested in becoming a foster parent.”
— Larry Cooper
Photo Credit: The Children’s Home Network
“They both took the stand and said that they give up the rights to their child, I just started breaking down. [Brandi] was sitting beside me like this and she looked over at me. She said, ‘What’s wrong?’ I said, ‘I can never imagine saying that about my own child.’ She was kind of numb to it because she’s worked in the field. It was hard to hear somebody say that.” — Marc Wilson “It wasn’t until he was sitting next to me in the courtroom that I realized not everybody hears relinquishment. Not everybody hears abuse, neglect. Not everybody hears that – as CPS workers [this is] just everyday language. So once I was with him and realized, OK, this isn’t everybody’s life. They may have drug issues, domestic violence, gangs coming in and out of their home, but these words are not everyday life for a lot of people.” — Brandi Wilson
Photo Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
“I can tell you the number of kids in formal care, so if there are 6,078 kids in foster care in West Virginia, right now 58 percent of those are in kinship relative placements. For kids in informal care, where grandma or an aunt or some type of relative or even what we call fictive* kin has stepped in, it’s almost impossible to get numbers on that.”
— Rachel Kinder
*Fictive care refers to placements where a foster parent knows the child but is not related to them. This could be a teacher, family friend or a neighbor. Photo Credit: Mission West Virginia
“It actually was a pretty easy decision, because we were both on the same page almost always with helping people. I’ve known since probably my early high school years that I did want to do foster care. However, we really wanted no more than maybe three. And the way life and things happen, we got five at one time. I have two brothers who were put in foster care that I never knew and I still don’t know. So we made a commitment that when we got into it, that we would never split up families.” — Louisa Snuffer
“If they call us for a sibling group, we’re not going to say no to them because that was our number one belief. Like, ‘We need to do whatever we can to keep siblings together.’ When we were initially approved, we were approved for four children. So, DHHR told us we could have four children in the house, given the space. And that was kind of our cap. I said, ‘Maybe we’ll do three tops,’ you know, that seems like a manageable number. And the very first call we got for placement was a sibling group of five. Of course we said yes. We had to do a few things to get approved for a fifth child. They moved in with us. Things went great.” — Nikki Snuffer
Photo Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
“[For] my kids that have gone to Winfield, I make them go through the [Future Leaders] program. Not because I’m teaching it, but because even if it wasn’t me, I’d want them to get these skills. It’s the kind of things that are forgotten these days.” — Nikki Snuffer
Photo Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Another successful weekend for the West Virginia Mountaineers results in another slight bump up in the top 25 rankings. WVU took two of three from Kennesaw State on the road, allowing them to slide up to No. 23 in D1Baseball’s new batch of rankings.
D1Baseball’s Top 25 for Week 3
1. UCLA
2. LSU
3. Texas
4. Mississippi State
5. Georgia Tech
6. Arkansas
7. Auburn
8. North Carolina
9. Florida
10. Southern Miss
11. Georgia
12. Oklahoma
13. NC State
14. Clemson
15. Wake Forest
16. Coastal Carolina
17. TCU
18. Oregon State
19. Tennessee
20. Florida State
21. Kentucky
22. Texas A&M
23. West Virginia
24. Miami
25. UTSA
Missed opportunity
West Virginia had a 6-0 lead in game three of its series against Kennesaw State, looking well on their way to a clean three-game sweep of the Owls.
Unfortunately for Steve Sabins, the bullpen imploded following another strong five-inning outing from the big lefty Maxx Yehl. Bryson Thacker, Carson Estridge, and David Perez combined to give up four runs on five hits over the final three innings, allowing the Owls to steal Sunday’s game.
The loss frustrated West Virginia fans and rightfully so, but there’s no need to panic. The name of the game is to continue winning the series. You do that, you’ll find yourself in a position to make the NCAA Tournament and earn a high seed. Obviously, you don’t want to blow the opportunity of a sweep, especially when you’re up 6-0, but it’s not a loss that is going to ruin their resume. Losing the series, on the other hand, would have.
What’s next for the Mountaineers?
No single mid-week game this week for West Virginia. Instead, they’ll play a quick two-game series against Radford at home beginning Tuesday. They’ll get one day of rest before opening up a three-game series at home against Columbia, which will be the final series of non-conference play. WVU will have a single mid-week game against Maryland on Tuesday, March 10th, before beginning Big 12 action on the road against Baylor.
The full remaining schedule
Mar. 2-4 Radford
Mar. 6-8 Columbia
Mar 10 Maryland
Mar 13-15 at Baylor
Mar. 17 Penn State
Mar. 29-21 BYU
Mar. 24 at Marshall
Mar. 27-29 at Arizona State
Mar. 31 at Arizona
Apr. 3-5 UCF
Apr. 7 Marshall
Apr. 10-12 at Texas Tech
Apr. 15 at Penn State
Apr. 17-19 Houston
Apr. 21 Pitt
Apr. 24-26 at Cincinnati
Apr. 29 at Penn State
May 1-3 Kansas State
May 5 Marshall (Charleston, WV)
May 8-10 at Kansas
May 14-16 TCU
May 20-23 Big 12 Championship (Surprise, AZ)
West Virgnia built a six-run lead through five and half innings, but the Kennesaw State Owls (5-5) scored seven unanswered runs in three frames to knock off the Mountaineers (8-2) Sunday afternoon 7-6.
West Virginia captured an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first after sophomore Matt Ineich hit a leadoff single before sophomore Gavin Kelly and senior Paul Schoenfeld were issued walks to load the bases with two outs on the board. Then, redshirt freshman Ryan Maggy line a two-RBI single to centerfield in his first career start.
The Mountaineers extended their lead in the second when Kelly hit a three went opposite field for a three-run home run, his first of the season, for a 5-0 advantage.
West Virginia starting southpaw pitcher Maxx Yehl threw five scoreless innings. The redshirt junior recorded four strikeouts on the day and limited the Owls to four hits.
Kelly added a run in the sixth, clearing the centerfield wall for his second home run of the afternoon and a 6-0 WVU lead.
Redshirt sophomore Bryson Thacker took the mound in the six. After a high and wide throw on a ground ball, a walk, and with two outs, junior Cooper Williams drooped an RBI single in right field to put the Owls on the board. Then, a pitch in the dirt rolled to the backstop to add another run, closing the gap to four, 6-2.
Carson Estridge was handed the ball in the seventh. The senior right-hander gave up a leadoff double before registering the next two outs, including a strikeout, before freshman McCollum line an RBI single just out of the reach of the glove of Kelly. Senior Jackson Chirello cut the deficit one, hammering the 3-1 pitch well over the right field wall and into the Waffle House parking lot for a two-run home run.
West Virginia head coach Steve Sabins turned to the clubhouse leader in saves David Perez to get the Mountaineers out of the inning. The freshman returned to the mound in the eighth. Senior Jamarie Brooks reached after hitting a sharp ground ball over to first that went between the legs of senior Ben Lumsden. Then, Williams blasted a two-run home run and a 7-6 Owls lead.
In the ninth, senior Matthew Graveline nearly tied the game with the swing of the bat, driving 0-2 pitch off the top of the left field wall for a one-out double to put the Mountaineers into scoring position. However, redshirt senior Harry Cain sat the last two Mountaineer hitters to collect his second win of the season as the Owls completed the comeback with the 7-6 decision.
West Virginia is back in action on Tuesday for the first of a two-game series against Radford. Game one and game two (Weds) are both scheduled for 2:00 p.m. and the all the action will stream on ESPN+.
Delegate Larry Kump of Berkeley County has died, state officials announced. Kump was 78 years old.
Kump, a Republican, served in the House from 2010 to 2014, again from 2018 to 2020 and finally 2022 to the present. He had announced plans to run again in the coming electoral cycle.
“As a battle-tested and liberty minded Christian and Constitutional Conservative, my consecrated action principles of good governance remains solid and steadfast,” he wrote to supporters in January.
He had been serving in the ongoing legislative session, but had been absent in recent weeks.
The daily prayer in the House of Delegates this past Wednesday included an expression of concern for Kump: “A special prayer for Delegate Larry Kump. Lord, you know where he is in the hospital now, and I pray right now that you would send your angels there to touch him, to be with him.”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced Kump’s death on social media, calling Kump “a devoted public servant who dedicated many years of his life to improving West Virginia.
“Delegate Kump served with a deep commitment to the principles he believed would strengthen our communities and protect our freedoms.
“On behalf of the First Lady and myself, we extend our condolences to Larry’s family, friends, former colleagues, and all those who had the privilege of knowing and serving alongside him. His legacy of service and his love for our state will never be forgotten.”
Secretary of State Kris Warner also posted condolences to Kump’s family. “Larry was a conservative Christian and a true Mountaineer! He will be sadly missed by his friends and colleagues,” Warner posted.
The West Virginia Democratic Party also put out a statement to offer condolences, saying Kump’s work reflected a lifelong commitment to accountability, public policy, and the effective administration of government.
“Delegate Larry Kump devoted his life to his family, his community, and to his state. He brought experience, independence and thoughtfulness to his role, and he never lost sight of the people he served,” said Mike Pushkin, the Democratic Party chairman who is also a delegate from Kanawha County.
Kump was known for his turns of phrase, for example kicking off his comments on the House floor with “Great googly moogly” for emphasis. He often described his adoration for his “beloved and bodacious wife Cheryl.”
He regularly concluded interactions and written communications this way: “Meanwhile, and for sure and for certain, may God bless you all real good!”
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