State Supreme Court justice slams DHHR over foster care system

 

http://www.register-herald.com/statenews/local_story_306120858.html

The Associated Press

By Tom Breen

Associated Press Writer

CHARLESTON — For the second time this year, a state Supreme Court justice has blasted the Department of Health and Human Resources by suggesting the agency has systemwide problems that need rapid correction.

In a concurring opinion filed this week, Justice Margaret Workman accused the DHHR of failing to properly protect children caught between the foster care system and an abusive home.

“The intent is to issue a clarion call to the DHHR to provide child protective services with more resources and more direction in protecting children,” Workman wrote.

Workman’s opinion comes roughly two months after Chief Justice Brent Benjamin rebuked DHHR in a different case. He wrote that the agency seems to have systemic problems preventing it from meeting its duties.

The two opinions, along with other concerns, have led some frustrated lawmakers to discuss whether splitting the agency up would make the bureaus and departments that comprise it more efficient.

Workman’s opinion backed the court’s unanimous affirmation of a 2008 decision by Mineral County Circuit Court Judge Philip Jordan. Jordan ordered that children who had been living in an Eastern Panhandle home should not be returned to the woman who ordered them to call her “Mom,” although she was not related to them by blood.

The woman, her son and seven children moved from Maryland to West Virginia in 2001. Over the next six years, the living arrangement was the subject of 11 referrals to DHHR concerning abuse and neglect.

In the Supreme Court’s anonymous, or “per curiam,” decision, the justices wrote that the DHHR substantiated claims of everything from physical abuse to a home with cockroaches falling from the ceiling and farm animals sharing living space with people.

The woman, named in the case only as Rosemary C., eventually lost custody of the children in 2007. A year later, though, after she had completed an improvement plan, DHHR recommended that four of the children be returned to her custody.

Jordan disagreed, and Rosemary C. appealed. By the time the case reached the Supreme Court, DHHR had changed its position and recommended the children not be returned to her.

“It is outrageous that seven children were left in despicable circumstances by the DHHR for more than six years and even then, that the DHHR still sought to place those children back in an unsafe environment,” Workman wrote.

She further wrote that the incident raises concern that it’s only “the tip of the iceberg,” which raises the question “whether we must begin to re-examine child protective services in a more systemic manner.”

DHHR spokesman John Law said the agency wants to further review the justices’ ruling before commenting.

Lawmakers who have read it, though, say it matches their frustration with the agency in matters ranging from foster care to the conditions at the state’s two psychiatric hospitals in Huntington and Weston.

“This is similar to what we saw at Bateman Hospital,” said Delegate Don Perdue, referring to the crowded conditions at the Huntington hospital. “It seems that DHHR has no ability to move quickly to intervene in negative situations like this.”

The Wayne County Democrat, who is chairman of the House Health and Human Resources Committee, said he wants legislation in the next session of the Legislature to address what he calls depleted resources at the agency, starting with hiring more people.

“DHHR needs to ramp up its work force, and it needs to recognize it has really severe problems in terms of being able to do what it needs to do,” he said.

Gov. Joe Manchin said that DHHR has made significant progress in several areas, but that he understands more work needs to be done. Manchin said he’s especially concerned if the agency is failing in its duty to protect children.

“Children are our number one priority and if there’s something wrong, then we need to fix it,” he said. “If that means additional training, more efficiencies, whatever it may be, then let’s look at the ideas on how we can make it better.”

Perdue and some of his colleagues have discussed splitting the agency up, which he said might make it easier to focus on the many tasks it currently has.

Prior to the administration of Gov. Gaston Caperton, many of the functions now handled by DHHR were located in separate parts of state government. Caperton sought the merger of those agencies to make them more streamlined and efficient.

“From what we’ve seen since, it hasn’t really achieved that goal,” Perdue said.

Manchin stopped short of endorsing that idea, although he said he wants to discuss it further with Perdue.

Perdue’s House colleague, Delegate Barbara Hatfield, has been crafting legislation she plans to introduce in the 2010 legislative session to address situations like the one described in the Supreme Court ruling.

“The system is broken,” the Kanawha County Democrat said. “Everyone knows it, but no one is doing anything about it.”

Hatfield’s legislation would create pilot programs offering specialized training and guidance to foster parents, and provide for better tracking of children in the system.

She also wants to see improved training for caseworkers and a boost in their pay to make the agency more competitive with the private sector.

“We have dedicated, good people doing their best,” she said, “but the strain on them is tremendous and there just aren’t enough of them.”