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WSAZ Investigates | W.Va.’s Child Neglect Confidentiality Law

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WSAZ Investigates | W.Va.’s Child Neglect Confidentiality Law


CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) – The recent death of a 14-year-old girl in Boone County prompted WSAZ NewsChannel 3 to take a closer look at the state law that the West Virginia Department of Human Services says requires it to keep quiet.

News of the fatality broke last week. Local authorities say the teenager had not eaten for months and was unable to function more than four to five days before she died.

Authorities also say the girl, who they believe was home schooled, had not been outside of the home more than two times in the last four years.

The teen’s mother was charged with child neglect resulting in death.

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Mother arrested in connection with teen’s death

The Governor’s Department of Human Services, on Monday, issued a lengthy statement on the case on behalf of Child Protective Services. It says, in part, that such cases deserve “deliberative, thoughtful, and cautious,” assessment with careful respect for confidentiality.

A day later, Tuesday, NewsChannel 3 reporter Curtis Johnson asked Gov. Jim Justice, should that statement indicate that CPS had a history in that child’s life?

Justice said, “You know, Curtis, the CPS folks, from what I understand, had no idea about this child, no idea whatsoever.”

W.Va. Gov: CPS had ‘no idea’ of Boone neglect case

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So, Johnson asked Human Services to verify the governor’s comment that CPS had no knowledge of the Boone County teenager.

Instead, a spokesperson directed Johnson to “carefully review” Monday’s lengthy statement

He did just that, reading not only the press release, but also the section of state law it referenced. It was there, Johnson found one subsection that says the department, in case of a child neglect fatality, shall make public information relating to the case.

So, Johnson asked the department for any information regarding the Boone County case, or an explanation if the department believed it could not provide information.

The spokesperson did not respond before 6 p.m. Thursday.

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As a result, Johnson took that question to state Del. Heather Tully, R-Nicholas, reading her that specific section of code.

“If there is a child fatality or near fatality due to child abuse and neglect, information relating to a fatality or near fatality shall be made public by the Department of Human Services and provided to the entities described,” Johnson said to Tully. “How do you read that?”

“I believe that if a child fatality occurs or a near fatality occurs, then there should be some type of public information reporting,” she replied.

“It says information relating to a fatality or near fatality shall be made public,” Johnson asked. “You think that’s clear?”

“I think that’s very clear,” Tully replied. “I think the the term ‘public’ is very clear to probably anybody that interprets it.”

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But it doesn’t stop there.

Even the department’s release acknowledged another section of that state law, which reads “information related to child abuse or neglect proceedings … shall be made available upon request to: Federal, state, or local government entities.”

Tully serves on the state’s Legislative Oversight Commission on Health and Human Resources Accountability, known by its acronym LOCHHRA for short.

“When you talk about federal, state or local government entities, you believe LOCHHRA is clearly a state entity?” Johnson asked.

“I believe that the Legislature is clearly a state entity,” Tully replied.

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“Have you requested that information in similar cases?” he asked.

“I have not requested that information in writing,” she answered. “I have certainly made inquiry into certain cases that have happened before the Department of Human Services, only to be stonewalled and to be told that they can’t give us that information as a member of the LOCHHRA committee.”

WSAZ reached out to the Governor’s Office late Thursday afternoon to ask if he plans to direct the Department of Human Services to release any information it has as required by state code in a child fatality case.

WSAZ had received no response as of 6 p.m. Thursday.

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West Virginia

Jobs: West Virginia has endless possibilities

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Jobs: West Virginia has endless possibilities


We have well and truly entered spring, and with it will come thoughts of proms, graduations, summer jobs and post-secondary choices for high school seniors. It’s also time to brace for the inevitable “So, what are you going to study?” from friends and relatives curious about what comes next. It’s an overwhelming question, even for […]



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Senate Education Committee passes study resolution on SSAC – WV MetroNews

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Senate Education Committee passes study resolution on SSAC – WV MetroNews


CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state Senate Education Committee approved a study resolution Monday concerning the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission.

Jay Taylor

The resolution, which still must be considered by the full Senate, said the legislature’s Joint Committee on Government and Finance would oversee the study during the next year.

Items to be studied include:

–the mission of the WVSSAC

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–how effective it is in achieving that mission

–improving the commission’s efficiency

–looking at transparency and accountability of the SSAC and deciding whether a performance evaluation would be appropriate

Sen. Jay Taylor, R-Taylor, who originally had a bill calling for a state takeover of the organization, sponsored an amendment Monday calling for the student to include input from coaches, parents and athletes.

“I’d hate for us just to get a study just from the SSAC itself,” Taylor said. “The bill was getting inputs from all over.”

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Education Committee Chair Amy Grady, R-Mason, thought the existing wording in the resolution would be fine but also didn’t oppose Taylor’s amendment.

The amendment passed on a voice vote.

The education committee examined the bill, called the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission Reform Act, for about an hour on Friday afternoon. At the end, Grady said there would be a vote on a study resolution on Monday.



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Progress being made on Vietnam War documentary in locating veterans' families – WV MetroNews

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Progress being made on Vietnam War documentary in locating veterans' families – WV MetroNews


CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A man working on a documentary called “Bring Them Home” focused around tracking down West Virginia MIA Vietnam War Veterans and their families says he’s making some headway with the project.

Calvin Grimm came on 580 Live recently to discuss the progress being made with the film project and the attempt to locate the 17 missing in action Vietnam vets from West Virginia.

He said he was happy to finally locate Sergeant Jimmy Taylor and his family in Indiana and will be going out there this week to get an in-person interview with them.

Sergeant Taylor, who is from Nitro, went missing in Vietnam in 1966. He’s now 83.

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Grimm said up until just the other day, the effort to find Taylor’s whereabouts seemed to be going nowhere.

“We were just kind of hitting dead ends left and right, we knew that he had five brothers, but there’s only one left now, and that’s why we were having such trouble tracking them down,” Grimm said.

Finally, however, he said he received a call from one of Taylor’s relatives who is still living in the Nitro area and they got him in touch with Taylor and his family in Indiana, who relocated there between 20 to 30 years ago.

Grimm said he had to talk to Taylor’s wife for the majority of the conversation over-the-phone, as Taylor has been battling health issues.

He said his wife shared how Taylor’s mother took the news that Taylor went missing and it was tragic.

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“She put it that she died of sadness,” Grimm said. “Jimmy Taylor went missing in 1966, she passed away by the next summer of 67, and she was in relatively good health, it just screwed her up that bad.”

He said most of Taylor’s brothers were in the military as well, and one of them happened to be home on leave when the family got the notification that he was MIA.

Grimm said Taylor deserves the ultimate badge of honor for everything he’s been through during the war.

“There were two other veterans at that battle where he went missing who earned the Medal of Honor,” he said. “I think Taylor should have gotten the Medal of Honor from what I can tell.”

Grimm said one of the Green Berets with Taylor at the time, who later received the Medal of Honor, Bennie Adkins wrote a book called The Tiger Among Us where he describes the events surrounding Taylor’s MIA.

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While he said Adkins unfortunately passed away a few years ago, Grimm is currently working on trying to contact some of the few surviving Green Beret members for an interview who were there at the time as well.

Earlier, Grimm said he got to interview the niece of Airman First Class Marshall Pauley who went missing in Laos also in 1966.

Grimm said ten years ago, Pauley’s aircraft wreckage was located and recently, his dog tags were found. However, he said they have not yet found his remains, so he is unfortunately still left unaccounted for.

He said they are also in the process of trying to track down a couple other veteran’s families who were from the central West Virginia region as well.

One is Lietenant John Albright of Huntington who went missing in 1968. Grimm said his aircraft also went down in Laos.

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He said Sergenat James Duncan is another whose family they are still working on trying to locate.

“He was Army, he was Infantry, they were reinforcing a South Vietnamese unit,” Grimm said. “From all accounts, he was killed in action and they buried his body at the battle site, but they were never able to recover it for whatever reason.”

Grimm said people can find updates regarding the documentary on its Facebook Page, “Bring Them Home: The Stories of Our Missing in Action Vietnam Veterans.” He said they will have a website up for the film project very soon.



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