Lawmakers Seek More Details About Critical Incidents Involving Children

Members of the Joint Committee on Children and Families were frustrated by the lack of detailed information they received Monday regarding critical incidents involving children or families who’ve been to the Department of Human Services.  

At the capitol building in Charleston Monday, the bipartisan committee was eager to hear from the Bureau for Social Services about the state’s new Critical Incident Review Team. The team was established as a part of House Bill 2880 which was signed into law following the 2025 legislative session. It assesses fatal or near fatal incidents involving a child after a referral to the Department of Human Services. 

Several left the meeting wanting far more information than they got. 

“What is the reasoning for not putting more information about the why behind all of those things in the report?” asked Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha. 

“I don’t know that there is an answer,” answered Kendra Bowley Rodgers, deputy commissioner for the Bureau of Social Services. “I think if you guys have suggestions we are absolutely open to more details.” 

“I mean, if you read this do you think there’s anything you can glean from it?’” Young responded. 

Between July 11, 2025 and June 30, there were 89 such critical incidents statewide.  

Rodgers said not all such incidents involve abuse or neglect. Some involve fatal car accidents or sudden infant death syndrome. Some lead to recommendations for other departments or agencies.  

“One of the things that we saw when we were reviewing our first year of this being implemented, we saw a lot of teen suicides. There was no abuse or neglect in any of those situations,” Rodgers said. “And so that was one of our recommendations was being able to engage the Department of Education on enhancing mental health services for our youths.” 

“Is there an effective way to measure those recommendations later?” Sen. Vince Deeds, R-Greenbrier, the committee chairman, asked. 

“So that’s an excellent question and that kind of comes to one of our barriers that we’ve identified,” said Rodgers. “We put the recommendations in the reports but outside of the reports we don’t really know where those recommendations go.” 

Of the 89 critical incidents the team reviewed, Rodgers said 41 met the definition of abuse or neglect. Lawmakers say they want far more detailed reports moving forward – including what happened in the 41 fatal or near-fatal cases that did meet the definition of abuse and neglect.