The West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy recently released a report titled "Moving Upstream: Improving Child Welfare in West Virginia by Addressing Root Causes of Hardship." This report presents a concerning array of key findings and statistical data. However, educators in the public sector are unlikely to find these revelations surprising, as they have long been at the forefront of addressing the daily challenges our children face.
Over the years, educators have been tasked with doing more with fewer resources and have unfortunately faced criticism for lackluster results. It's crucial that we shift our perspective and acknowledge the tremendous efforts made by these educators on behalf of our children. In a time of significant financial resources, it is imperative that our state government prioritize public education and allocate the necessary support and resources to tackle these challenges effectively.
Here are a few of the key finidngs in the report:
West Virginia places the most children in foster care of any state in the country, with four times as many children in foster care per capita as the united states as a whole. West Virginia’s rate of 13.0 children in foster care per 1,000 children is nearly double that of the next highest state, Alaska, at 7.4 per 1,000 children.
In 2021, 2.2 percent of all children nationwide who entered foster care were from west Virginia despite the state only having 0.5 percent of the total us population.
The number of children in foster care in west Virginia increased by 57 percent between 2012 and 2021, while the state’s overall population declined by four percent.
West Virginia permanently terminates parental rights more often than any other state, at a speed nearly 40 percent faster than the national average.
The majority of children who enter foster care placements do so, at least in part, because of parental substance abuse or neglect, both of which are correlated with poverty and can often be addressed through social and economic supports rather than drastic family separation measures.
West Virginia continues to place 44 percent more children in group homes and institutions than the rest of the country, despite recent progress in reducing those numbers as the result of an agreement with the US Department of Justice (DOJ).
West Virginia families are 2.3 times more likely than families nationally to be referred to child welfare, 3.2 times more likely to be investigated, and 4.6 times more likely to have a child enter foster care. As of June 2023, there were 6,456 children in the state’s foster care system.
The rate of children entering foster care in West Virginia is dramatically higher than any other state in the country. Alaska’s foster care entry rate, the second highest rate of any state, is just over half that of West Virginia. More than half of children in foster care in West Virginia are placed with family in kinship or relative care. Another 29 percent are in non-relative foster homes and 13 percent are in group homes or institutions. Of those in group homes or institutions, 38 percent reside in out-of-state facilities.
The full report can be found at:
https://wvpolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Child-Welfare-Report-Final.pdf