Sen. Vince Deeds, R-Greenbrier, discusses upcoming foster care legislation in the Senate Chamber on Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, in Charleston, West Virginia. (Photo by Will Price/West Virginia Legislative Photography)
State lawmakers are heading into the upcoming legislative session hoping to improve West Virginia’s overwhelmed foster care system, announcing 16 bills so far to address long-standing problems. One measure would require child protective services workers to be equipped with body cameras, and another bill would require some counties to apply artificial intelligence to assist CPS deal with high caseloads.
Republican lawmakers also want to expand the state’s facilities for foster children to support them 543 foster children who live in out-of-state group homes in West Virginia.
West Virginia nearly $70 million spent During the past fiscal year, foster children were placed in out-of-state facilities and some children were placed in-state end up staying in hotels. The state could transfer this money to state institutions.
“When it comes to foster care, time is always of the essence. We’re talking about children who aren’t getting any younger, and so every day of a child’s life means something,” Del said. Adam Burkhammer, R-Lewis, a foster parent who is spearheading child welfare legislation. “I am an impatient person who wants results immediately, but I understand that the government is not acting as quickly as I would like, but I will still push for us to get results as quickly as possible.”
Care reform was a major topic in the December Legislature’s midterm sessions this week at the State Capitol. The part-time legislature is looking at how to improve the executive branch’s tough care system.
Many of the lawmakers’ proposed foster care bills will require state funding and support from the Department of Human Services, both of which could be an uphill battle.
“We’re trying to develop a collaborative approach because it really takes all three branches of government to make the child welfare system work well,” Burkhammer said.
Sen. Vince Deeds, who also supports child welfare legislation, said the bills stem from conversations with constituents about problems in the child welfare system.
“We don’t want to [the Department of] “HR thinks we’re the big brother and we’re constantly going to beat them down,” said Deeds, R-Greenbrier. “We want to support them and lift them up and try to help them in any way we can.”
Tiffany Wilson, a foster parent in Parkersburg, hopes lawmakers will consider changes to assist families caring for children who often need behavioral support and medical attention.
She has four foster children ages 1 to 7 and has adopted a 12-year-old child. A child requires an out-of-state medical test; Another child attends a doctor’s appointment hours away from home.
“We need more support in this area and more understanding,” Wilson said. “We have to meet the children where they are and not cause more trauma.”
The stipend for foster families doesn’t go far given rising food prices, she added.
Gov. Patrick Morrisey has announced his own plans to reform the long-problematic foster care system, he said would end the “years of bureaucratic logjam” the system saw under Gov. Jim Justice and improve outcomes for children.
Earlier this year Morrisey vetoed child welfare legislation, including a bill that would have provided pay raises for lawyers representing foster children. Him too Cutting funding for the legislature for a nonprofit organization that helps foster children.
Del. Elliott Pritt, R-Fayette, said he will vote against tax cut bills, spending bills and the state budget until lawmakers come up with a funding plan to address Inadequacies in the child welfare system.
His announcement came after Barboursville School, an inpatient psychiatric facility for children, announced that it would be closed.
“I think that just has to be our biggest priority,” said Pritt, who is a public school teacher. “Our means are healthy, ours [Rainy Day Fund] is healthy…Let’s do what we need to do for kids.”
Republicans are introducing 16 foster care bills for the 2026 legislative session
Last November, three Republican lawmakers, including Burkhamer and Deeds, stood before their colleagues on the Senate floor and caused a grim look in the care system. There were not enough state homes, workers or programs to serve 6,000 at-risk children in state care.
“I think we’re right where we were last year and the numbers show we’re still at about 6,000 children served, so we’re not going to improve that,” Burkhammer said.
A report from a $348,000 Foster Family Listening TourThe study, cited by DoHS, showed that the state’s child welfare system is “more about blaming than solving problems.”
This week, Republican lawmakers introduced 16 bills at the Capitol after a child welfare task force last year developed ideas to improve care in foster care.
“[The kids] are victims of sometimes terrible circumstances,” Deeds said. “I think some of the initiatives we have this year will be passed and become effective legislation.”
A bill would require CPS employees to wear a body camera when investigating reports of child abuse and neglect. The legislation, as currently written, requires CPS staff to obtain the consent of the person being investigated in certain circumstances. The video material could not be obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
“We believe in restoring faith in a system that has lost trust across our state, and we believe that will be very transparent in our actions,” Burkhammer said. “We can see the success that law enforcement has had in wearing their body cameras and the trust that has been restored throughout communities.”
Wilson, a former CPS employee, said no social worker has been to her home since she placed four boys in September.
“First a CPS worker has to come to the house,” she said.
Lawmakers also want to establish a pilot program in two counties that would require the “use of mobile devices, including tablets, to assist CPS employees in conducting child abuse and neglect investigations in most cases. The price tag for the technology is currently unknown.”
Lawmakers say high case numbers continue to pose a problem for CPS employees.
Deeds, a former police officer, said AI has helped law enforcement by reducing paperwork.
“The technology is there and it’s proven,” he said.
Other bills would: Provide a pay raise for public defenders who work on child abuse and neglect cases; require that the Bureau of Social Services’ child welfare regulations be subject to legislative review for approval; Shortening the time within which courts can consider termination of parental rights to prevent cases from lingering in the system.
Another measure would require the DoHS to develop a statewide prevention plan and implement it under the supervision of the Legislature.
The bills will be discussed in more detail during the session beginning January 14, 2026.
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