Ombudsman Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Clarity Provided On Foster Care Ombudsmen

Pamela Woodman-Kaehler, office director of the Foster Care Ombudsman, gave a presentation and answered questions about West Virginia’s Foster Care Ombudsman’s purposes and functions.

Lawmakers heard from the office of West Virginia’s Foster Care Ombudsman Monday during a Joint Standing Committee on Government Organization.

Pamela Woodman-Kaehler, office director of the Foster Care Ombudsman, gave a presentation and answered questions about West Virginia’s Foster Care Ombudsman’s purposes and functions.

“The foster care ombudsman investigates and resolves complaints that basically relate to the child welfare system,” Woodman-Kaehler said. “If there is an action or inaction or decision of any state agency that is involved with the foster care population, it is typically within our jurisdiction to help our public with that issue.”

Established by the West Virginia Legislature in 2019, the West Virginia foster care ombudsman’s team has received a total of 1,834 complaints. Woodman-Kaehler could not comment on which claims have been substantiated. There are currently 6,262 children in West Virginia state care.

“And we talked to hundreds and thousands of people, overall in meetings, and panels with relationships to investigating complaints, and helping people,” Woodman-Kaehler said. “A very important part of what we do is we substantiate or validate complaints that are validatable that come to our office, and we keep track of complaint validity by topic and by county and we are working hard to attempt to map that.”

Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, asked Woodman-Kaehler about the number of complaints and some issues surrounding vouchers not being accepted at certain stores. She said the department issued a variety of different changes.

“I stayed on top of those changes and how they were being implemented with leadership,” she said. “If there are complaints about vouchers only being accepted at a particular store, I would suspect it’s a communication error on the part of a well-intended, but inaccurate employee sharing information.”

Woodman-Kaehler reported that more than 10 people work in the foster care ombudsman’s unit, and due to anonymity procedures couldn’t elaborate further.

Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, asked Woodman-Kaehler if her office has enough staff, given nationwide workforce shortages.

“Our workforce is positioned all over the state, we are not Charleston-centric, we are throughout the state so that we can have that presence wherever we may be needed,” she said.

Woodman-Kaehler also said the office of the foster care ombudsman’s budget is $979,000, and as of the fiscal year to-date the office has spent just under $600,000 of that sum.

Foster Care Ombudsman Authority Broadened In Senate

A bill allowing the Foster Care Ombudsman more authority to protect children in state care passed the Senate unanimously Tuesday.

The Foster Care Ombudsman, a position allowed for by legislation passed in 2019 and 2020, advocates for the rights of foster children, investigates and resolves complaints, and provides assistance to foster families, among other responsibilities.

House Bill 3061 will permit the Foster Care Ombudsman to investigate reported allegations of abuse and neglect for critical incidents and to investigate children placed in the juvenile justice system.

“Currently, the Foster Care Ombudsman can investigate complaints involving a foster child, a foster parents or kinship parent,” said Sen. Mike Maroney, R-Marshall, who introduced the bill and its amendments to the chamber. “The bill before us now would expand the ombudsman authority to investigate reported allegations of abuse and neglect, to investigate a child who has sustained a critical incident in order to investigate a child in the juvenile justice system. The bill also allows the foster care ombudsman to investigate complaints on his or her own initiative.”

Sen. Charles Trump, R-Morgan County, spoke to the importance of the bill after its passing, noting West Virginia’s 6,300 foster children.

“We report it to the DHHR we’ve spent money, this state government, this legislature has funded DHHR to set up a hotline where people can report report allegations of child abuse or neglect,” Trump said. “And it’s sad that it happens. But it does happen in this state, Mr. President, and I think most people who’ve studied it and analyzed it will agree that our opioid crisis has inflamed that, has increased the numbers.”

HB 3061 now goes to the governor’s desk for his signature.

Foster Care Ombudsman Authority Broadened In The House

The official advocate for foster children in the state system may soon have more power to look out for their rights.

House Bill 3061, concerning the authority of the Foster Care Ombudsman (FCO) passed the West Virginia House of Delegates unanimously Wednesday.

During the 2019 and 2020 legislative sessions, House Bills 2010 and 4094, allowed for an independent FCO in West Virginia.

FCOs are required to have experience as a former foster parent or experience in the area of child welfare. They advocate for the rights of foster children, investigate and resolve complaints, and provide assistance to foster families, among other responsibilities.

“This bill permits the foster care ombudsman (FCO) to monitor, investigate and review issues with the child welfare system from intake to when the child ages out and foster children within the juvenile justice system,” said Del. Amy Summers, R-Taylor, lead sponsor of the bill. “It adds language which protects the ombudsman from being compelled to testify or produce evidence in a proceeding on investigations. But the ombudsman may be called before LOCHRRA to testify on actions carried out by the office, but not the substance of an official investigation. It prohibits other state agencies or officials from preventing the release of reports by the ombudsman. These changes bring added accountability to the child welfare system, and I urge passage.”

Del. Matthew Rohrbach, R-Cabell, also spoke in favor of the legislation, noting the many discussions surrounding the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) this legislative session.

“This is an important bill. We’ve all sat here for several years and worked on our problems with foster care and CPS,” Rohrbach said. “What this legislature is attempting to do with this bill is to put some real accountability and enforcement into the data collection and the ability to enforce and see what’s going on. This frees up the omsbudsmans to give them much more control. And I’m 100 percent for this because this, as well as some other things that we’re doing in DHHR, in the Office of the Inspector General, is really going to help to make this system accountable, which I think is something that everybody in here wants.”

House Bill 3061 is now headed to the Senate.

W.Va. House Judiciary Committee Sends Ombudsman Bill Onward After Discussing Legal, Staffing Issues

Lawmakers highlighted both a potential conflict of interest and staffing concerns in a bill establishing responsibilities for a newly created and appointed foster care ombudsman.

The ombudsman position was established by House Bill 2010 last session, to advocate for the rights of foster children and foster parents in disputes with other entities involved in the child welfare and foster care process.

House Bill 4094, which the Judiciary Committee advanced to the House floor Friday morning, elaborates more on the expected work of the ombudsman. It places the position in the West Virginia Office of the Inspector General and allows the West Virginia Attorney General’s office to provide legal counsel when requested.

Former Child Protection Services worker and certified foster parent Pamela Woodman-Kaehler was appointed to the role in October by Department of Health and Human Resources Cabinet Secretary Bill Crouch.

Woodman-Kaehler told the House Judiciary Committee on Friday her job as ombudsman is to “drive public agency accountability,” by reviewing complaints regarding West Virginia’s child welfare agencies, social service agencies, its managed care organization and even the DHHR. The department oversees the Bureau for Children and Families, which oversees much of the foster care process.

Del. Brandon Steele, R-Raleigh, said connecting Woodman-Kaehler’s office to the Attorney General’s for legal counsel might create a potential conflict of interest.

“The Attorney General is the statutory attorney for the Department of Health and Human Resources,” Steele said. “Part of her [Woodman-Kaehler’s] primary responsibility is to investigate complaints against the DHHR. … So, you have one part of the attorney general’s office fighting against another part of the attorney general’s office, and it is truly a conflict of interest.”

Steele proposed an amendment allowing Woodman-Kaehler to seek outside counsel in such a situation. That amendment failed 6-17.

“It occurs all the time in several different branches of office,” Del. Barbara Fleischauer, D-Monongalia, said. “The attorney general’s office is very familiar with the different ways to protect, and they have the authority … to hire outside counsel if they need to.”

Involving outside legal counsel might add an additional financial burden to Woodman-Kaehler’s office, Fleischauer added, as Woodman-Kaehler tries to determine how much the state should invest into her role to ensure it’s an effective position.

Press Secretary Curtis Johnson for the attorney general said his office is in the process of reviewing the matter and he’s unable to comment further at this time.

Ombudsman Still Uncertain About Staffing Needs

In other comments to the committee, Woodman-Kaehler said after reviewing several ombudsman programs for child welfare in other states, she can foresee needing more staff as soon as possible.

Woodman-Kaehler told lawmakers she envisions her office a “dedicated public servant team,” with her as the lead ombudsman, an associate ombudsman working beneath her, various field agents throughout the state, decent software for case management and clerical staff.

“I think it’s becoming evident in this legislation that this is far more than any one person, however motivated, could do” Woodman-Kaehler said.

For the time being, Woodman-Kaehler is the only person staffing her office. She told the committee she recently filed an improvement plan requesting $457,000 for a pair of clerical positions and four regional employees.

“I can tell you I am already receiving complaints in my office, and as we all know I have not yet quite gone public,” Woodman-Kaehler said.

She predicts this and other changes to West Virginia’s foster care system — including a recent transition to a managed care model and sweeping reforms recommended Thursday by members of the House Health and Human Resources committee — will bring a “flood of demand” to her office.

“There’s so much we don’t know. It’s difficult to project. I’m doing the best I can,” Woodman-Kaehler said.

Emily Allen is a Report for America corps member.