MPs will take into account changes in how cases of children’s abuse are reported. News, sports, jobs

Photo kindness/WV Photography Legislative Del. Adam Burkhammer believes that his draft law to improve the reporting requirements for the abuse and neglect of children will ensure that alleged cases are investigated.

Charleston – Changes could come to how the cases of abuse and neglect of children are reported and investigated and investigated by the protection services of children in Western Virginia, if the parliamentarians will transmit a draft law.

The draft law 2377, related to the well -being of the child, received the first review on Thursday in front of the Health and Human Resources Committee, with a marking and a discussion of the draft law that can be scheduled next week.

HB 2377 proposes significant changes in the existing laws regarding the reporting of abuse and neglect of children in the state to the Human Services Department (Dohs), which aims at increased transparency and responsibility.

The draft law was one of several draft laws presented to parliamentarians during the provisional legislative meetings last November for the reform of the child protection system by Del. Adam Pinson, R-Mămon; State Senator Vince Freeds, R-Greenbrier; and del. Adam Burkhammer, R-Lewis.

Burkhammer, the main sponsor of HB 2377, said on Thursday, in an interview, following the floor session of the house that the legislation is supported from several incidents over the years when the cases of abuse and neglect of children have fallen through CPS cracks.

“This did not get out of a specific case, but we all know that there are several cases in the whole state that have received a certain advertising and received a certain attention. We have to do it with this ” Burkhammer said. “We try to speak more generally and prevent these types of cases to happen …”.

The draft law strengthens the requirements for the immediate reporting of abuse of children and neglecting the office for social services through a 24/7 telephone line or reporting based on web, requiring both reporting systems to give the individual to make the report with a specific case identifier.

“The main complaint is that mandatory reporters call and do not receive any feedback if the E -mail call or form has been accepted and where it is in this process”, “” Burkhammer said on Thursday after -he explained to HB 2377 to the members of the Commission. “He has to call several times, which overload the centralized contribution.”

HB 2377 would prohibit the Office for Social Services from designing any reports made by compulsory reporters to ensure that all reports from professionals legally obliged to report cases of children’s abuse and neglect – including teachers, medical professionals, coaches, camp counselors, etc. – are analyzed in detail. Also, the office would be obliged to act on all reports, even those made outside the specified phone or email methods, such as personal.

“We are just trying to bring consistency through this” Burkhammer said. “We understand that there are times when we are not able to go out and do the investigations in a timely manner, or may not be reported exactly by central contribution. We try to address some of the compulsory reporting requirements, as well as when the reports are made outside centralized. “

Also, changes would be made to the dashboard for the well-being of the child, maintained by Dohs, requiring monthly data reporting until July 1, including new reports on performance indicators, investigating, open cases, household investments and federally mandated values ​​as “The time to contact the first” and information about “Children with temporary movement or accommodation.”

Also, the dashboard should include information about the fatality of children and information close to fatality within 48 hours after the reported or near fatality death, subject to the review of a new review of the critical incidents created by the draft law. The data would include the initials of the child, the county of residence, the date of the incident, the sex, the age and the race/ethnicity.

The draft law creates a critical team to review incidents that would examine all deaths and near the deaths involved in the child’s welfare system to make recommendations “To identify the effective processes of prevention and intervention to reduce the preventable deaths of children and near the deaths in the child protection system.”

The members of this review committee would include representatives of Dohs, the judicial system, the law application, the criminal prosecution and the legislators. The team must meet at least quarterly, and within 10 days, a fatality of the child or close to the fatality to make reviews. An initial report must be submitted within 30 days from the fatality or near fatality ”to the Legislative Supervisory Commission on the responsibility of human health and resources, as well as an annual report.

“We look at a certain transparency in reporting, we can receive information back to the legislator, so that we can truly solve the problems, and these problems will be identified in these data and information”, “ Burkhammer said.

The dashboard must provide a connection to the final report of the Critical Incident Review team within 24 hours of completion. The commissioner of the Social Service Bureau is also obliged to send a report on the victims of the children or near the deaths to the Office of the Inspector General within 24 hours to convene the team to review critical incidents. The draft law would grant the maternal assistance ombudsman a greater access to the information related to the abuse of children and the cases of neglect during their official duties.

One of the incidents that stimulated the drafting of HB 2377 was the death of the girl from Boone County, 14 years old, Kynedi Miller, early last year and Dohs’s response following this death. Officers to apply the law in Boone County -found Miller in what they called “Skeletal states” because of the years of malnutrition. Miller’s mother and grandparents are experiencing criminal charges.

Cynthia Persily, the former secretary of the Dohs cabinet under former governor Jim Justice, issued a statement shortly after Miller’s death following the media control, expressing remorse for the child’s death, but saying that there will be no information about the girl or any current of previous investigations. Subsequently, it was reported that Miller’s name appeared in two previous CPS cases that involved her family in 2009 and 2017.

The federal law on the prevention and treatment of abuse of children (capture) requires states to provide public disclosures on cases of abuse or neglect of children, which leads to victims or in the field of close fatalities. The data that can be revealed include the circumstances of fatality or almost fatality, age and sex and previous reports of abuse and neglect.

DOHS officials, at that time, said they are already in accordance with the requirements of Capta, providing very basic fatality data in an annual report. The State Code 49-5-101 states that all the records of the children that Dohs maintains are confidential.

The capture asks the states to maintain the confidentiality of children’s abuses and neglect reports to keep the rights of children and parents/tutors. However, the capture allows states to authorize limited access to information, as long as state officials guarantee the safety and well -being of children and parents/guardians.

The Western Virginia State Police also carried out a well -being control over Miller in the spring of 2023, with a single soldier stating in audio recordings that makes a CPS recommendation and GPS showing that he went directly to the Dohs Regional Office to make the referral in person. However, an internal investigation by the governor’s office has revealed that the soldier, who is now retired, did not follow the appropriate procedures in force in 2015 to use the abuse of Dohs children and neglect the phone number.