Republicans in the WV House of Representatives chose to protect child abusers from children without overhauling CPS

It really looked like there was a chance that the Raylee Law — a measure designed to stop people from using homeschooling to hide child abuse — could pass this year.

But on the final evening of the West Virginia legislative session, Republican members of the House used tactics to stall for hours, and the bill was not brought up until around 11:15 p.m., leaving the House just 45 minutes to pass the bill as is or make changes and send it to the Senate for passage.

The The House of Representatives passed the amended bill at 11:57 p.m., leaving no time for the Senate to act.

This was the third year the legislature attempted to pass Raylee’s bill. The House passed versions of Raylee’s bill in 2024 and 2025, but they never made it through the Senate.

The bill is named after Raylee Browning, an 8-year-old girl who died in 2018 from abuse and neglect. Her parents began homeschooling her after teachers notified Child Protective Services that they feared she was being abused.

If passed, Raylee’s Law would prevent a child from being sent from public school to homeschooling if there is an energetic CPS investigation into the parent or guardian initiated by a teacher. CPS would have to complete the investigation within 10 days.

In the Facebook comments on West Virginia Watch’s stories about the bill, homeschool parents who don’t support Raylee’s Law wrote that they believe teachers would abuse the law and turn innocent parents in.

First, a teacher’s job is to protect students. They are mandated reporters – if they believe a child is being abused, they must report it or they could lose their job. And even if someone is reported in error, it takes ten days at most for a family to be held back from homeschooling—and other children’s lives could be saved by this diminutive inconvenience.

Several Republican lawmakers supported the bill, including public school teachers Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, and Del. Andy Shamblin, R-Kanawha and Elliott Pritt, R-Fayette. republican Sen. Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, who homeschooled his children, also supported the Raylee bill.

Tarr said the measure is a way for the homeschool community to “differentiate itself from some of the things that some members of the public school community unfairly label you with.”

Sen. Ryan Weld, R-Brooke, is a former prosecutor who handled child abuse and neglect cases. He was the main sponsor the amendment to the Raylee Law In House Bill 5537.

“This is a balancing act… This is trying to find a way to make sure that we respect the rights and wishes of parents and protect children.” Weld said. “It’s not about the family who loves their child, but about the child who can’t speak on their own.”

This bill is not aimed at homeschool parents, but at those who abuse children and want to employ homeschooling to hide it. Abusers will continue to employ this tactic as long as homeschool parents fight this bill.

Some Republican members of the Legislature, like Del. Adam Burkhammer, R-Lewis, argued that the bill was flawed and would not protect children. He said Browning was failed by CPS, not homeschooling.

While it is true that CPS failed Browning, it is also true that the homeschooling loophole allowed her to disappear from the public eye and that the ongoing hidden abuse led to her death.

CPS will continue to fail children if the state does nothing to address staffing shortages. So what have state legislators actually done to aid improve CPS?

There were numerous bills related to this Child Protective Services — such as requiring CPS workers to record audio or wear body cameras during investigations and requiring children interviewed by CPS workers to have their interviews conducted at a child protection center — but none of these were adopted.

Only two bills related to CPS were passed. House Bill 4022 would redeploy CPS workers across the state based on county needs. It now heads to the governor’s desk to either be signed, vetoed or become law if he does nothing. Another measure would require CPS employees to employ technology to minimize their paperwork so they can focus more on investigations. Since this is a pilot program, we will have to see if it is effective.

But this bill simply involves putting a band-aid on a wound that needs stitches. It does not mean that more CPS employees can be hired, just that the Department of Human Services can do so Move that You have from one county to another.

The preferred standard caseload for a child protective services worker is 12 to 15 – most CPS workers in West Virginia have 20 to 30 cases, Kendra Boley Rogers, deputy commissioner of the state Bureau for Social Services, told lawmakers last week.

And while Gov. Patrick Morrisey recognizes that CPS often suffers from staffing shortages, his budget did not include funding to address the problem.

Both the homeschooling gap and CPS are priorities that need to be addressed. Improving CPS is a long-term effort that will take time, especially if the governor doesn’t enhance funding and the Legislature doesn’t pass legislation to make changes. But Raylee’s Law could aid immediately.

Remember the imperceptible children who can be isolated from everyone by their abusers. This law is intended for these children.