Tag: Jonathan Pinson

House Bill On Foster Care Takes Nuanced Approach To Sibling Reunification

Under current code, the Department of Human Services is required to reunite siblings if circumstances allow it, but the bill now makes reunification permissive.

House Bill 2027 changes the circumstances for when a child may be removed from a foster home, specifically in cases of sibling reunification. 

Under current code, the Department of Human Services is required to reunite siblings if circumstances allow it, but the bill now makes reunification an option rather than a requirement and places the same standards on reunification as on a normal termination of foster care arrangements.

Del. Elliot Pritt, R-Fayette, grew emotional while speaking about the opportunities his father gained when he went through the foster system by staying with a stable family and away from his dysfunctional biological family.

“My dad stayed in the same foster family for 15 years, 14 to 15 years, a family in Fayetteville, last name, last name of the Smiths,” Pritt said. “All of my dad’s siblings were eventually returned to their parents and very few of them, if any, have lived a successful life by anything that we would measure as successful. But you can see in the notes that are in my dad’s CPS file, the care and concern that those workers had for him, knowing that the worst thing that could happen to him was for him to go back to his family.”

Del. Brandon Steele, R-Raleigh, was one of the lone voices of dissent. He said keeping siblings together in the foster care system was intended to give children a connection back to what he called their “blood tie”. 

“Those children will be forever marked,” Steele said. “The one thing left in code that we had, depending on how this vote goes, is, ‘Do those children have the ability to maintain their blood tie with their siblings?’ That’s all they got left. That’s all they got left. We have the lowest reunification rates in the nation. We have the highest termination rates in the nation.”

Last month, a federal judge declined to hear a class-action lawsuit brought against West Virginia’s foster care system, stating it was not the court’s role to craft public policy. In his order, U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin wrote that “the blame squarely lies with West Virginia state government.”

Del. Jonathan Pinson, R-Mason, and the bill’s lead sponsor, shared some of his experiences as a foster parent. Pinson discussed the disruptive impact of losing a foster child to sibling reunification before ultimately welcoming that child and his siblings back into his home. 

“We thought it was in his best interest to stay with the family that he only ever know, that he’s only ever known, to no avail. They removed him for a period of about two and a half years,” he said. “We now have he and his two biological brothers in our home. The previous foster placement that they were in was, I’m choosing my words carefully here, less than ideal for them, and as a result, he was going to be bounced from our home to that home, to another home, and now with his two other brothers. So my wife and I made the decision to allow all three of them into our house.”

Del. Adam Burkhammer, R-Lewis, and the chair of the House Human Services Committee, closed debate by stating the need for decisive action on foster care issues.

“Plan A is always for the kids to go home,” he said. “Still in the bill, a mandate still exists for biological families to be preserved, but we need to work on plan B sooner. We don’t need to wait 18 months and decide this isn’t going to work.”

House Bill 2027 ultimately passed the House of Delegates on a vote of 97 to 2 and now goes to the Senate for further consideration.

*Note: Emily Rice contributed reporting to this story.

Lawmakers Focus On Audio Recording Rules For CPS Workers

Under a bill that moved through the House Subcommittee on Human Services Thursday, Child Protective Services (CPS) workers would be allowed to record audio of their investigations.

Thursday afternoon, the House Subcommittee on Human Services moved a bill to allow Child Protective Services (CPS) workers to record audio of their investigations.

CPS workers would have to be granted a court order or have the informed consent of the individuals being investigated for abuse or neglect to record their investigation.

Lawmakers expressed concerns about the possible impacts of House Bill 2542, ranging from privacy and accountability to the possibility of an abuse or neglect investigation being delayed because the CPS worker is seeking a court order to be permitted to record instead of investigating the case.

Del. Jonathan Pinson, R-Mason, asked about the protocol for law enforcement’s body cameras and why a CPS worker would need to obtain a court order or informed consent to record.

An unidentified speaker from legislative counsel answered, citing some precedent in national cases dealing with an individual’s expectation of privacy.

“Essentially, it comes down to a balancing test of transparency versus that expectation of privacy,” Counsel said. “The court has largely held that that that the interest in transparency in police work, for lack of a better word, sort of outweighs that expectation privacy, especially in a time and, this kind of borrowing court language, especially in a time where accountability of police is is at the forefront of society’s conversations. So with CPS workers acting as agents of the state, arguably that same notion, that same rhetoric, would apply.”

Del. Anitra Hamilton, D-Monongalia County, asked counsel to clarify the intent of the bill since CPS workers are not currently prohibited from recording their investigations.

Counsel said he did not know of any current law preventing CPS workers from audio recording and that the bill was meant to clarify in state code that the option exists.

Hamilton asked counsel who would have access to the recordings and if that evidence would be permissible in court proceedings.

“The committee substitute calls for the audio recordings to be stored for the duration that the case is open, the case file is open as far as any oversight or the ability for those recordings to be subpoenaed, that would be set by department policy, “ counsel said.

Hamilton also expressed concerns about the cost of audio recording equipment and possibly adding more to overworked CPS workers’ plates.

“One of the concerns that was brought to my attention is that if it would bring an undue burden, then we would have less Social Workers applying for this position, which would further cause a hardship which we already have, you know, a burden with social workers,” Hamilton said. “I mean, with CPS workers.”

Pinson asked counsel why a court order or informed consent would be necessary in West Virginia since it is a one-party consent state, meaning one person can legally record a conversation without telling the other person.

Before a voice vote, Pinson said the bill isn’t perfect, but he doesn’t want the legislation to lose momentum and recommended it pass.

“If this committee were to vote down this bill today, some of the questions, some of the opportunities that this bill presents are going to be lost, so for that reason, I would urge passage of the bill, and we’ll continue to work on it as it makes its way through the process,” Pinson said.

The committee substitute removed language mandating audio recording during CPS investigations and interactions, opting instead for language “permitting” audio recording.

After some discussion, lawmakers reported the committee substitute for House Bill 2542 to the standing committee with the recommendation that it do pass.

Exit mobile version