W.Va. To Begin Offering Care In-State For Foster Children Treated Out Of State

A treatment facility in Barboursville will reopen next year to serve West Virginia children.  

Earlier this year about 400 children in West Virginia’s foster care system were placed out of state for services and care not available in state. As of early November, that number had declined to 372.   

Almost a year ago Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced the creation of a $6 million revolving investment fund and the Bring Them Home initiative to renovate and repair existing state properties for children in foster care with behavioral issues.    

Thursday he announced that the Department of Human Services has entered into a five-year lease with Utah-based residential treatment company Youth Health Associates.  

“I believe that Barboursville will serve as a model for what we want to accomplish across West Virginia,” Morrisey said. “And so It’s my goal to replicate this approach across the state and slowly but surely get to a point -- we’re going to announce it soon -- we can say forevermore in the future kids will not be sent out of state and it starts with today it starts with this process it begins with this facility. But we have a lot more work to do.”  

The former Barboursville School location, which previously served children for nearly 40 years, has a capacity for 36 children, which Morrisey expects to be filled by early next year. He said the Department of Human Services is working to identify other appropriate sites. 

Reporters present at the announcements raised questions about Youth Health Associates, namely a description on its own website that the company “serves higher-risk male youth, ages 12 to 18 years old, who engage in sexual misconduct with a broad range of sexual-offense behaviors and who are often sexually-preoccupied.” 

Morrisey responded that the company is already working with about 26 West Virginia children in Utah, and that the state’s purview is much broader. 

“There are a lot of people with different types of complex treatment, so I think this is gonna be dealing with a whole range of different disease states,” he said. “What you’re seeing right now is you have 400 kids that are out of state. There are a lot of different disease states that occur, why someone may be out of state. Part of the plan is to make sure that we’re addressing, we’re bringing our kids home slowly.” 

The governor also announced that beginning Jan. 1, 2027, West Virginia will end its longstanding practice of applying Social Security survivor benefits belonging to children in foster care toward the state’s foster care costs. Instead, those funds will be preserved for the children who receive them, helping provide a financial foundation as they transition into adulthood.  

Approximately 42 West Virginia children in foster care receive survivor benefits totaling about $402,700 annually. The change will be implemented through executive action and complements the federal Fostering the Future initiative.