West Virginia Bureau for Social Services Story Archives

Number Of Children In Foster Care At Lowest Level In 7 Years

State officials are reporting West Virginia has less than 6,000 kids in state care for the first time in seven years.

As of June 30, 2024, there are 5,991 children in state custody, marking the first time since March 2017 that number has dropped below 6,000, according to state officials and the state’s Child Welfare Dashboard.

The Department of Human Services (DoHS), Bureau for Social Services (BSS) and Gov. Jim Justice announced improvements to the state’s foster care system on Thursday. The number of children in state custody peaked in April 2020 at 7,433 children.

Gov. Jim Justice discussed the announcement during his regular briefing on Thursday, acknowledging that there is still work to be done to improve outcomes for children in state care.

“Now we got tons more to do, we all know that, and we have tragedies happen from time to time, and we need to try to prevent them in every single way,” Justice said. “But from a foster care standpoint, I’m happy to announce that the number of children in this state that are in state custody right now, is at the lowest that has been in the last seven years.”

According to the Child Welfare Dashboard and a DoHS press release, the vacancy rate for Child Protective Services (CPS) positions has fallen by 12 percent since Jan. 2023. There are 14 vacancies in Youth Services (YS) workers, a vacancy rate of 11 percent.

“Our focused efforts to recruit and retain qualified staff are showing significant progress,” said Jeff Pack, DoHS Bureau for Social Services commissioner. “Reducing our vacancy rates means we can better serve the children and families of West Virginia and ensure they receive the protection and support they need.”

As directed by Senate Bill 273, passed in March 2023, in 2024 BSS implemented a new classification and compensation system, aiming to help border counties and panhandle bureaus compete with salaries out of state and attract more workers. Five new CPS positions were added to the Berkeley and Jefferson counties district.

BSS said it increased its workforce to meet the needs of an increasing number of child welfare abuse and/or neglect referrals.

The Centralized Intake for Abuse and Neglect received 39,100 intakes with 24,085 accepted for referral in 2023. As of June 30, 2024, Centralized Intake received 20,179 intakes with 12,363 accepted for referral.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Marshall Health.

First Commissioner For Social Services Transitioning Out Of Role

Jeffrey Pack, the state’s first commissioner for social services, is slated to assume a new role with the West Virginia Bureau of Senior Services once his successor is in place.

Jeffrey Pack is stepping down from his position as the first commissioner for the West Virginia Bureau of Social Services.

Gov. Jim Justice announced during a virtual press briefing Wednesday that Pack will transition into a new role as commissioner of the West Virginia Bureau of Senior Services, where he will serve as a member of the governor’s cabinet.

Justice praised Pack for his role in bolstering the state’s child protective services and boosting retention among child protective services staff. “Jeff’s done all kinds of stuff,” Justice said.

“I am deeply honored to have served as the first commissioner for the Bureau for Social Services,” Pack said in a statement released Wednesday. “We have made a significant impact on the lives of West Virginia families, and I look forward to continuing to serve our community in my new role.”

In January 2018, Justice appointed Pack to the West Virginia House of Delegates. He represented Raleigh County from 2018 to 2021, before taking his role with the Bureau of Social Services.

For now, however, Pack will continue in his current position. The governor said that Pack will not begin his new role until his successor is in place.

DoHS Announces 47 Percent Vacancy Reduction In CPS

Child Protective Services, or CPS, vacancies have fallen 47 percent in West Virginia in the past year.

The West Virginia Department of Human Services (DoHS), formerly part of the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR), announced there are fewer vacancies in the Child Protective Services (CPS) and Youth Services (YS) workforce within its Bureau for Social Services (BSS).

As of Nov. 30, 2023, there were 79 vacant CPS worker positions out of 458, marking a more than 47 percent vacancy reduction from the previous year, which saw 150 vacant positions, out of 455 in 2022.

Gov. Jim Justice praised the reductions in vacancies and congratulated Cabinet Secretary Cynthia Persily and Commissioner of the Bureau for Social Services Jeff Pack for their work on the department’s understaffing.

“These folks really need us and they need us really badly,” Justice said. “So congratulations, Cynthia, and congratulations, Jeff, and keep doing the good work for all of us.”

The Department of Human Services said it increased its workforce to better respond to an increasing number of child welfare abuse and neglect referrals. The Bureau for Social Service’s Central Intake reported 40,000 referrals in 2023.

“We had unbelievable vacancies of child protective services workers that we needed, we really needed really bad,” Justice said. “We have gone down from 458 positions that were unfilled, down to 79.”

Lawmakers Hear Updates On DHHR Reorganization

The three appointed secretaries of the new bureaus of the DHHR provided lawmakers with updates on restructuring within the department. Legislation passed in 2023 required the department to be reorganized and split into three agencies after concerns of inefficiencies in the system.

Members of the Legislative Oversight Commission on Health and Human Resources Accountability voiced concerns about the restructuring of the Department of Health and Human Resources on Tuesday.

The three appointed secretaries of the new bureaus of the DHHR provided lawmakers with updates on restructuring the department. Legislation passed in 2023 required the department to be split and reorganized after concerns of inefficiencies in the massive agency.

The new secretaries are Dr. Sherri Young, incoming secretary of the Department of Health, Dr. Cynthia Persily, incoming secretary of the Department of Human Services and Michael Caruso, incoming secretary of the Department of Health Facilities.

Young said and her fellow secretaries are identifying critical vacancies in their departments and consolidating some empty positions.

“We have met with our respective new departments, within our bureaus and offices so that we can better understand what needs they have as far as critical vacancies and what positions need to be filled, and how we could be more administratively responsible with the positions that haven’t been filled for quite some time,” she said.

Young also reported a decrease in vacancies in the Bureau for Social Services, the Bureau for Child Support Enforcement, the Bureau for Medical Services and the Bureau for Behavioral Health.

However, the Department of Health Facilities, the Bureau for Public Health and the Bureau for Family Assistance increased in vacancies.

Caruso explained the problem in his presentation.

“Basically, we don’t pay our people enough on an hourly rate,” Caruso said. “All right, and neither does the rest of the systems. The fact is that most of our employees have just jumped to the contracted services.”

Caruso also reported that he brought in Baker Tilly US, LLP, an advisory, tax and assurance firm, to do a benchmark study on all facilities and perform a complete financial review.

“Those studies were completed last week, those studies will be integrated, and we will educate our leadership team as well as our CEOs over the next week and a half,” Caruso said.

Health Management Information Systems, or HMIS, are software used to manage and analyze healthcare data. Caruso said he is looking to improve the Department of Health Facilities’ HMIS.

“We are looking internally to improve that process and improve that program, as well as potentially looking at other outside vendors to cover our emergency or electronic medical records,” Caruso told lawmakers.

Persily reported a reduced vacancy rate in the Department of Human Services and accredited that to pay raises and access to behavioral health services for Child Protective Services workers.

“So the work that you did in the last session, to increase salaries, to provide regional salary differentials, it’s worked. We have reduced significantly the vacancies in that particular job classification,” Persily said. “I believe that in January last year, when you heard about this, the rate was about 30 percent. And our rate at the end of July was 17 percent.”

Lawmakers questioned the secretaries on their proposed structuring of the departments, voicing concerns about the level of bureaucracy operating in the agency.

Del. Amy Summers, R-Taylor, asked the secretaries to be proactive instead of reactive in their planning.

“My only concern is I don’t want to duplicate what we’ve been doing when we have this great opportunity to create something new,” Summers said.

Persily said she and the other secretaries will have a model in place by January 1, 2024, the deadline for the department to split, but advocated for flexibility.

“We are not going to be wedded to a model if it doesn’t work, and we will constantly be improving that model as we move along. And so any changes would be for efficiency, and for functionality,” Persily said. “But what I will say is that you will, you will see some consistencies across the three departments, you will see that we there are some things that each department needs.”

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Charleston Area Medical Center and Marshall Health.

The Special Legislative Session Ends And EV Charger Infrastructure, This West Virginia Morning

On this West Virginia Morning, members of both parties voice concern over the lack of consideration and debate on proposed bills during the legislation’s special session this week, and a discussion about how efforts to build out a charging network for electric vehicles is progressing.

On this West Virginia Morning, Randy Yohe spoke to members of both parties that voiced concern over the lack of consideration and debate on dozens of proposed bills during the legislation’s special session this week. The session ended Tuesday around 9:30 p.m.

Curtis Tate spoke with Robert Fernatt, president of the West Virginia Electric Auto Association, about how efforts to build out a charging network for electric vehicles is progressing.

Also, a look at improvements in staffing shortages in the state’s social services as well as updates to West Virginia University’s restructuring efforts.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from Concord University and Shepherd University.

Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning

Commissioner Reports Reduced CPS Vacancies

During the interim legislative session, Commissioner of the Bureau for Social Services Jeffrey Pack provided updates on hiring and retention initiatives in the department.

The West Virginia Legislature’s Joint Committee on Health heard updates about staffing shortages in social services.

During the interim legislative session, Commissioner of the Bureau for Social Services Jeffrey Pack provided updates on hiring and retention initiatives in the department.

To encourage more people to apply, the agency is paying higher rates for Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan counties, due to their location at a competitive border of the state.

“We have also implemented a number of workforce initiatives that have really borne some amazing fruit,” Pack said. “We implemented a pay differential or expanded a pay differential for the eastern panhandle, which has done a great deal to address our workforce shortages there.”

He said the bureau’s vacancy rate has been reduced from 31 percent in January to 19 percent as of June 2023.

Pack credits this reduction with pay increases for those who work multiple years of service in the department.

“We also did retention incentives for folks who were hired after June 19 of last year, and those are 10 percent increases at two years, 10 percent at four years, 5 percent at both six and eight years of service,” Pack said. “This has made remarkable progress in our workforce.”

Another retention tool the department is using is trauma response for Child Protective Service (CPS) workers.

“So as you can imagine, folks who work in CPS are oftentimes the victim of seeing unthinkable things. And we’ve done a number of things to try to alleviate that,” Pack said. “One the department has provided coverage for mental health services. So if folks need to go out and see a mental health provider, they can do that at no cost to themselves. We worked with Marshall University Center for Excellence in Recovery to develop and implement practices to address trauma.”

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Charleston Area Medical Center and Marshall Health.