A legislative audit focused on CPS,
which is part of the Bureau for Children and Families in the state Department
of Health and Human Resources, was detailed at the State Capitol earlier this
week during August interims for lawmakers.
The report found a high staff
turnover, delays in investigations, shortfalls in recruiting and retaining
workers and little willingness to change.
“I was appalled by it,” Senator
Donald Cookman (D-Hampshire, 15) said of the audit’s findings. Before
retiring, he spent a lot of time on child neglect and abuses cases as a judge
in the 22nd Judicial Circuit comprised of Hampshire, Hardy and Pendleton
counties.
“It’s not really flashy and doesn’t
attract some people, but it is so important and it takes up the majority of any
circuit judge’s time who deals with abuse and neglect.”
At times in recent years, the audit
found West Virginia
When cases are reported, those with
CPS have 14 days to respond. That window closes to 72 hours if a child is
believed to be in danger. However, the audit found in 2011 those minimum
thresholds were routinely not met across West
Virginia
Cookman said the CPS workers should
not shoulder the blame for that. He said they’re doing one of the most
difficult jobs in the state.
“They’re underpaid. They’re
overworked,” he said. “I can’t imagine going to the places that they go
to and trying to work with the families and, then when they have to take the
child out of the home, what they have to go through there.”
Susan Hage, the interim
commissioner of the Bureau for Children and Families, told
lawmakers Wednesday the report is being taken seriously and changes
are already being made based on its 14 recommendations.
One of those recommendations deals
with the creation of a centralized intake system so cases of abuse and neglect
can be better monitored.
The CPS review is a component of a
larger review of the state Department of Health and Human Resources.
