Across West Virginia, child advocacy centers investigate claims of abuse and neglect against minors. In 2024, 16% of the youth they served encountered safety risks over alleged exposure to drug use — a figure four times the national average.
This marks just one standout datapoint from the West Virginia Child Advocacy Network (WVCAN) 2024 Statewide Data report, released Monday. The annual report collects data from child advocacy facilities to assess youth welfare trends in the state.
While youth drug endangerment in the state outpaces the national average, it is not the only threat to child safety. The report shows that kids in West Virginia continue to survive sexual abuse, physical abuse and neglect. In response, welfare groups are working to expand their services for survivors of childhood violence.
Looking at the numbers
Drug endangerment incidents investigated by West Virginia child advocacy centers reached a three-year high between July 2023 and June 2024, but remain below where they were from 2019 to 2021.
According to Shiloh Woodard, WVCAN’s interim CEO, drug endangerment refers to a repeated exposure to drugs or drug usage that poses a risk to a child’s wellbeing. She said drug endangerment has been a particular problem for the state since the onset of the opioid epidemic.
Other forms of mistreatment also remain prevalent among West Virginia youth.
Sexual abuse was the most commonly reported form of child abuse among last year’s investigations at WVCAN-affiliated centers, encompassing 48% of all cases, according to the report.
Physical abuse accounted for 29% of cases, while witnessed violence made up 21% and neglect comprised 16%. Investigations can look into more than one form of abuse, meaning these figures may overlap.
The vast majority of perpetrators in abuse or neglect allegations were directly known by the children affected, making up 95% of all cases. More than 2,400 alleged offenders were parents or step-parents.
“This is something that we’re talking about very consistently with groups who request information and training on recognizing and responding to child abuse,” Woodard said. “It really isn’t the stranger in the white van handing out candy. The risk to kids is coming to them in their home, or with individuals who are well known to them.”
The 2024 data also indicates that children with disabilities are at a greater risk of experiencing abuse.
About one-third of youth who received services from West Virginia child advocacy centers last year had reported or suspected disabilities, according to the WVCAN report. Meanwhile, only about 19% of youth enrolled in the state’s public school system have reported disabilities, Woodard said.
“These may be kids who have difficulty communicating and expressing what’s happening,” she said.
This information aligns with trends on a global scale. A 2022 study published in The Lancet, a medical journal, found that at least one in three children with disabilities globally has experienced violence.
Seeking justice for survivors of childhood violence and providing long-term support can be difficult, because their experiences are generally traumatic, Woodard said. But advocacy groups like WVCAN hope the growth of child advocacy centers across the state can make the path to justice smoother for West Virginia’s youngest residents.
A process that 'puts children first'
The first child advocacy center was established by a former district attorney in Huntsville, Alabama in 1985, according to the National Children’s Alliance website.
Child advocacy centers investigate abuse allegations, but they also serve as resource hubs for children who need care, according to Woodard.
The centers are “safe, child-friendly facilities [for] everyone who needs to get involved whenever there's an allegation of child abuse,” she said. “Child protection, law enforcement, treatment professionals from both the medical and mental health field and others can gather together and work collaboratively together as a team to investigate abuse, hold offenders accountable and also help children.”
As of 2025, there are 21 child advocacy centers across West Virginia, servicing 47 of the state’s 55 counties.
Having centers where individuals with different roles in the justice and recovery process can come together reduces how often children must rehash traumatic memories for an investigation, Woodard said.
“It also creates a system by which you limit the amount of information that falls through the cracks when all of these different entities work together collaboratively as a team,” she added. “The child advocacy center model puts children first.”
WVCAN is a statewide network that connects these facilities and advocates for their needs. They offer child advocacy centers and their staff members training, support and technical aid, according to the nonprofit’s website.
While not all counties currently have access to child advocacy centers, Woodard said child welfare advocates are working to bolster and expand their services. In the future, she hopes that means all communities across the state can access facilities like these.
In the meantime, advocates have gradually increased the services they do have. This year, WVCAN-affiliated child advocacy centers served more than 4,900 children, an all-time high.
Woodard said this is likely not a result of “abuse happening at a higher rate,” but rather a reflection of child advocacy centers becoming more embedded in their communities and expanding their operational capacities.
“As that continually happens, then naturally we see the number of children being served at child advocacy centers grow,” she said.
However, Woodard said funding from the government is crucial to keeping this work up. With financial concerns and budget cuts looming over the state and federal governments alike, Woodard said she worries a reduction in funds could cause child advocacy centers in West Virginia to lose momentum.
“If there is a reduction in state funding or federal funding for these services, that will mean that centers will have to scale back services, maybe even lay off staff,” she said. “That will have a direct impact on each local community's ability to respond to allegations of child abuse and specifically crimes against children.”
View a summary of the West Virginia Child Advocacy Network's 2024 Statewide Data report here:
