West Virginia

West Virginia Senate Judiciary Committee holds public hearing on child welfare system

Published

4 months ago

February 23, 2026

West Virginia Senate Judiciary Committee holds public hearing on child welfare system

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) – The West Virginia Senate Judiciary Committee held a listening session on the child welfare system’s challenges Monday morning, ahead of a week when the committee is set to focus on reforming it. The system currently has about 6,000 children, according to the Child Welfare Dashboard.

The committee heard from parents who have dealt with the state’s child welfare system, as well as those formerly inside the system, about what they believe needs to be changed.

“We want to hear your stories, and as we go through the bills this week on CPS and child welfare, what you share with us this morning is going to help us create better policy,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Tom Willis (R-Berkeley) told attendees.

“After four and a half years of fighting, I lost my son,” Tanya Shresbury told the committee, saying CPS made false accusations against her. “I’ve missed birthdays, Christmases, everything. I’ve had six supervisors that have done visits with me. They all tell ‘em they’re great. Me and my little boy, we have a great connection. But when it comes to the judge seeing those reports … CPS no longer has them.”

Pat McKinney told the committee about his experience with CPS, in which he fought successfully to keep his daughter and son, calling it a “nightmare.”

McKinney told WSAZ he came to the meeting in hopes the agency will prioritize keeping children in family or close friends’ homes, rather than a new environment. That hope was echoed in several others’ addresses to the committee.

“If there’s an alternative, keep them in that family supportive environment,” McKinney said. “When you take a kid, you put them in an alien environment that they feel no support. My kids were so traumatized that if you walked up the sidewalk with a lanyard on, they hid. And we don’t need that. We need to stop taking kids.”

Some speakers were not parents, but advocates or former members of the system. Former state Sen. Mark Drennan, now the president of the West Virginia Behavioral Healthcare Providers Association, laid out what changes to CPS he would prioritize.

“If we want to fix the child welfare system in West Virginia, here’s what we need to look at,” Drennan told the committee. “No more children in hotels, fewer children being served out of state, more foster homes available for those children that need them, more children safely with their biological and kinship families, and more young, resilient adults aging with natural, lifelong connections. That’s what success looks like to me.”

After the hearing, Willis told WSAZ the committee will spend all week on reforms for the child welfare system, calling the current state of the system a “crisis.”

“At least from a legal perspective, we want to do everything we can to protect West Virginia kids and make sure they’ve got the best chance possible,” he said. “How can we set up systems so that the parents have a fair chance, and the children have a fair chance? Then we’ve got the most just system possible.”

Some of the reforms the committee is considering this week include: Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s “Bring Them Home” fund, a plan that aims to reduce the number of children within the child welfare system with behavioral or mental health needs that are sent to out-of-state facilities for care; working with more non-profits to ease the case management load; and implementing audio recording of CPS meetings with parents, children, and home visits.

“We’ve heard a lot of ‘he said, she said’ across the state, where we’ve heard parents would say what they heard in court wasn’t actually what happened, or what was said by the child or by the parent in the home or in a meeting,” Willis explained to WSAZ. “And so we’re looking at doing audio recordings with CPS workers to maintain accountability and transparency, especially for the court proceedings, because it’s such a critical issue, this removal decision.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee will meet daily at 3 p.m. to discuss and move the bills, which Willis estimates to be “in the ballpark of 15” in total. Meetings are streamed online.

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West Virginia

Stories of the Week: June 14 through June 20

Published

3 hours ago

June 20, 2026

Press Room

Stories of the Week: June 14 through June 20

There are early Dyson deals for Prime Day Amazon Prime Day is right around the corner — the annual four-day sales event is happening June 23-26 this year. In the past, it’s been a great time to score substantial discounts on Dyson products, from …

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West Virginia

Charleston commemorates Juneteenth with downtown parade and celebration – WV MetroNews

Published

14 hours ago

June 19, 2026

Press Room

Charleston commemorates Juneteenth with downtown parade and celebration – WV MetroNews

CHARLESTON, W.Va – Charleston is celebrating Juneteenth with its annual parade, followed by a celebration in Slack Plaza featuring live entertainment, food, educational exhibits, and more.

The parade stepped off from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center at 11:30 on Friday with a long line of organizations participating and several community members recognized as “Mr. and Miss Juneteenth.” Smiles dotted the procession as organizers watched a community come together.

“It’s just a wonderful thing when we can bring the community together to celebrate freedom, and here in West Virginia, we’ve had some challenges because they’ve said that Juneteenth is not a state holiday, but our people are still celebrating,” parade chairperson Karen Williams said.

The parade marked the start of an entire day recognizing the history of Juneteenth, the emancipation of more than 250,000 enslaved Black people when the Union Army arrived at Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865. With the last stronghold of slavery in the Confederate States eradicated that day, June 19 came to be celebrated as a second independence day, and President Joe Biden established it as a national holiday in 2021.

In West Virginia, former Gov. Jim Justice was the first to declare a state holiday and did so in each of his last four years in office. Gov. Patrick Morrisey recognized Juneteenth with a proclamation on Friday but has not declared a state holiday in 2025 or 2026.

“Representation really matters, so seeing Black queens and Black kings roaming the streets of Charleston is a beautiful thing, and it’s a needed thing. I think there’s a lot more people that aren’t going to celebrate Juneteenth than people that are, so I think it’s really important that we continue to celebrate this holiday and show why it’s important,” Miss Juneteenth Adult Keyarna Frederick said.

Different groups from around the Kanawha Valley came out to participate from businesses and youth organizations to political committees and arts collectives. Williams believes that shows that Juneteenth is a day for the entire community to celebrate.

“Appalachian people have always grown up and lived together, and what we want—we want people to continue that. We want people to continue to be together. We’re not saying this is a Black event or a white event. We welcome all people to come and participate,” she said.

The parade route echoed her sentiment as nearly everyone who joined the parade shared handshakes, high-fives, and hugs. That spirit of togetherness spoke to the day’s honorees as well.

“It’s definitely something that we should all be celebrating. It’s for all of us, not just for a certain color or a certain kind. It’s for all of us, so I believe everyone should be celebrating this day,” Mr. Juneteenth Adult Edward Frederick said.

“This is my first time in the parade. It’s so beautiful. It’s so amazing to see different organizations a part of the parade, seeing how much muscle has went into even doing something like this, so I think it’s a beautiful thing for Charleston,” Keyarna Frederick added.

From the parade to the activities in Slack Plaza, the day’s organizers sought to create an environment to celebrate Juneteenth with a spirit of unity. Williams hopes that anyone that joined or watched felt that along the way.

“I want them to see that we are Almost Heaven, West Virginia; that we are celebrating freedom; and that we are a community that embraces one another,” she said.

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