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Officials Provide Clarity And Updates On Delayed Foster Care Payments

The Legislative Oversight Commission on Health and Human Resources Accountability (LOCHHRA) met Tuesday for an update on the DHHR’s years-long overhaul of critical computer systems.

The Legislative Oversight Commission on Health and Human Resources Accountability (LOCHHRA) met Monday to discuss the transition plan for the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR). But lawmakers also heard about other issues, including an update on the years-long overhaul of critical computer systems.

In 2016, the DHHR undertook a project to replace three antiquated computer systems: the Family and Children Tracking system, the Recipient Automated Payment Information Data system and the Online Support Collections and Reporting system.

The goal was to replace those three systems with one integrated platform to modernize the technology for efficiency and reduce costs.

The contract was awarded to Optum Technologies in November 2017. The total cost of the contract over 10 years is $308 million.

The build and implementation of the new People’s Access to Help or PATH system cost just under $163 million. About $138 million, or 84 percent, comes from federal funding and about $24 million comes from state funds.

The implementation phase is milestone based, meaning that the vendor does not receive payments until certain work is completed.

In Feb. 2020, just prior to the pandemic, the DHHR released the PATH public portal which was an update to the online application where people can apply for various services including Medicaid, SNAP and child support.

Justin Davis, assistant to the cabinet secretary of DHHR, told lawmakers Monday the new system will add efficiency to the workforce and help improve the quality of the services that DHHR delivers.

“We’re implementing PATH in a phased approach,” Davis said. “We’re onboarding certain pieces of functionality and certain programs over a period of time, it’s not everybody jumping into the pool all at once.”

In January 2023, the DHHR launched the Child Welfare Social Services portion of the new system.

Cammie Chapman, deputy secretary of DHHR’s children and adult services, said when the site launched in January, the department was not aware that launching the site would impact payments.

She said they realized the error when processing February payments and found the payments to be missing or incorrect. All payments were affected to some degree and left some recipients without their money for weeks.

“Because we knew that these issues were coming up, and as soon as we were able to get a full grasp of what was going on, we worked with the auditor’s office, we worked with the treasurer. Those offices could not have been more supportive and getting checks out as soon as possible,” Chapman said. “They did special check runs for us, they got off their schedule, and they did whatever they could to help us make payments as quickly as we could, once we knew that they were correct.”

Chapman said Mission West Virginia is helping the DHHR coordinate reimbursement for any fees that may have resulted from these delayed payments.

She reported to the committee that the department is back on schedule and in the first week of April, released over 22,000 payments in the amount of about $25 million.

Physician And Lawmaker Talks State Health Issues

On this episode of The Legislature Today, West Virginia often gets poor grades for the health of its citizens. Recently, the American Lung Association rated the state as failing when it comes to several categories relating to smoking cessation. WVPB’s Appalachia Health News Reporter Emily Rice sat down with Del. Matthew Rohrbach, R-Cabell, who is a practicing physician.

On this episode of The Legislature Today, West Virginia often gets poor grades for the health of its citizens. Recently, the American Lung Association rated the state as failing when it comes to several categories relating to smoking cessation. WVPB’s Appalachia Health News Reporter Emily Rice sat down with Del. Matthew Rohrbach, R-Cabell, who is a practicing physician.

Also, after hearing stories in the House of Delegates about health care provider misconduct and foster families not receiving their proper funds, a proposal to split the state Department of Health and Human Resources into three cabinet positions was up for a final vote Tuesday. Randy Yohe has the story and outcome.

A bill allowing the Foster Care Ombudsman more authority to protect children in state care passed the Senate unanimously. As Emily Rice explains, the bill has been through many amendments before Tuesday’s vote.

Finally, the American Heart Association was in the rotunda this Valentine’s Day promoting heart health. Chris Schulz has the story.

Having trouble viewing the video below? Click here to watch it on YouTube.

The Legislature Today is West Virginia’s only television/radio simulcast devoted to covering the state’s 60-day regular legislative session.

Watch or listen to new episodes Monday through Friday at 6 p.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

Foster Care Payments Delayed, Advocates React

Payments due to caregivers of 2,300 West Virginia foster children will be delayed in the month of February.

Updated on Friday, Feb. 10, 2023 at 4:53 p.m.

Payments due to caregivers of 2,300 West Virginia foster children will be delayed in the month of February.

According to a release from the state Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR), the delay was caused by the department’s conversion from the Families and Children Tracking System (FACTS) to the West Virginia People’s Access to Help (WV PATH).

The information had to be manually entered and appropriate payments are being processed now. Payments are usually issued the second week of the month and will return to their normal schedule in March.

Adoption subsidy payments will be made the week of Feb. 13.

Foster families experiencing issues with payments may contact DHHR Client Services at 1-800-642-8589.

Those with emergency needs may contact their local DHHR office and families may also dial 211 for assistance with locating local resources.

Advocacy Group Responds

The WV Foster Adoptive and Kinship Parents Network, an advocacy organization supporting those caring for the state’s most vulnerable children, released a statement Friday afternoon in response to the DHHR’s announcement regarding delayed payments to foster care parents.

The Network’s statement claimed that caregivers and foster parents throughout the state learned of the payment delay via automated phone calls just before the DHHR released their statement.

Marissa Sanders, Executive Director of the WV Foster Adoptive and Kinship Parents Network noted in the statement that many kinship and relative families are led by grandparents who live on a fixed income.

According to the statement, one caregiver who may be impacted said, “If there is a delay in receiving my stipend, it would impact a lot of my bills. I have to make arrangements to pay things on certain dates and when I have to break that arrangement because the funds aren’t coming when they’re supposed to then it’s hard and I take a chance on getting things shut off.”

Gov. Jim Justice Talks Budget And Taxes

On this episode of The Legislature Today, government reporter Randy Yohe sat down with Gov. Jim Justice to discuss a number of issues facing the state, including budget surpluses and tax reductions.

On this episode of The Legislature Today, government reporter Randy Yohe sat down with Gov. Jim Justice to discuss a number of issues facing the state, including budget surpluses and tax reductions.

Also, the Senate passed several bills Wednesday, including Senate Bill 426, which allows the state’s chief information security officer to establish standards for, and ultimately block or ban, access to technological services, apps, programs or products on government devices. One example that has been at the forefront of this debate is the popular app TikTok.

And the Senate Finance Committee spent an hour Tuesday on the budget for the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which oversees the state’s prisons and jails.

Finally, a bill concerning the authority of the Foster Care Ombudsman passed the House of Delegates unanimously.

The Legislature Today is West Virginia’s only television/radio simulcast devoted to covering the state’s 60-day regular legislative session.

Watch or listen to new episodes Monday through Friday at 6 p.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

Nicholas County Program Celebrates Parents' Sobriety, Reunification With Their Kids

Family Treatment Court is an innovative program that reunifies families amid the state’s foster care crisis and the drug epidemic.

The courtroom in Nicholas County was packed Thursday as 10 parents graduated from the county’s Family Treatment Court program.

Large, framed portraits of the graduates and their respective families lined the front of the courthouse — the parents’ and kids’ smiles on display to show the room that their families were now whole.

Family Treatment Court is an innovative program that reunifies families amid the state’s foster care crisis and drug epidemic, two problems that are interwoven in West Virginia.

Under the program, parents who have completed substance use disorder treatment, and other requirements, are reunited with their children after being involved in the child welfare system.

“It’s kind of the people who have that drug problem and come into these cases and make that admission, ‘Hey this is something that is not right, and I need to improve on it,’” said Stephanie Smith, family treatment court case coordinator. She said meth has been the most common drug in the county.

“They also have to be willing — that’s kind of the biggest part,” she added.

Nicholas County is the fifth county in the state selected by the state Supreme Court of Appeals to run a grant-funded Family Treatment Court Program.

Nearly 30 people are involved in running the program, including child protective services workers and employees from the local school system.

One of the program’s goals is to minimize the time kids spend in foster care as West Virginia has the highest rate in the country of kids coming into foster care.

Twenty children were reunified with their parents following Thursday’s graduation, and many of the kids were in the courtroom for the ceremony.

Summersville resident Ally Carpenter, 27, has been drug and alcohol free for 275 days with the program. After finding housing and a job, and completing the program’s other requirements, she was reunited with her 11-month-old son and graduated from Family Treatment Court.

“Everyone here was willing to work with you one on one and whatever it took to get your child back quicker,” Carpenter said. “It’s really done a lot of good and put a lot of children back in the homes of parents who wanted them.”

Judge Stephen Callaghan fought to bring the program to his county and, since its launch in 2020, it now has 39 graduates and has reunited 63 children with their parents.

“We do it because of what you just saw in the courtroom. I’m proud to say that we’re one county and one judge, and at times this fall, we’ve had the largest family treatment court in the state,” Callaghan said.

Former graduates attended the ceremony, cheering as men and women received their certificates. Callaghan explained that it’s a community-wide effort to run the program, including finding housing, furniture, treatment and jobs for participants. Smith noted that finding housing is often the biggest barrier in the rural county.

A local business owner who has employed several of the program participants attended the graduation, and Callaghan said the tight-knit community is more than willing to give.

“It’s so easy to get people involved because all you have to do is say, ‘Do you want to help people and families affected by drugs?’ Who would say no to that?” he said.

Carpenter had a big smile as she held her son in the courtroom during her graduation. She said the program has provided her with good friends and an ongoing support system as she begins community college next month.

“I’m going to be a vet tech and then eventually hopefully become a vet,” she said.

Nearly Half Of Kids In Foster Care With Family

Compared to the national average, West Virginia has more children in the foster care system than any other state.

Jeff Pack, the commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Resources Bureau for Social Services, told the West Virginia Legislature’s Committee on Children and Families that almost 13 out of every 1,000 children in West Virginia are currently in the state’s foster care system. The positive to come out of the situation is that nearly half of those children are in kinship care.

Kinship care is when children are placed with someone they’re familiar with like family, a teacher or someone from church.

“As of the end of the month, we had over 6,600 kids in state custody,” Pack said. “Forty six percent of those — over 3,000 — were placed with kinship care.”

Pack also noted that West Virginia compares favorably when it comes to the stability for kids in foster care and the incidence of maltreatment while in care.