WEST virginia legislature

2021 regular session

Introduced

Senate Bill 391

By Senators Maroney, Roberts, Woelfel, Rucker, Grady, Stollings, and Romano

[Introduced February 22, 2021; referred
to the Committee on Health and Human Resources]

A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §49-2-101a, relating to a departmental study of the child protective services and foster care workforce.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

Article  2.  state responsibilities for children.

§49-2-101a. Study of departmental child protective services and foster care workforce.

(a) The department shall conduct a study and make recommendations for ensuring a healthy departmental child protective services and foster care workforce. This study shall include at a minimum:

(1) An evaluation of the workload for caseworkers to ensure caseworkers have manageable workloads to achieve positive outcomes for the children and families they serve;

(2) A determination of whether factors such as child population and poverty rate should be incorporated into the analysis for allocating caseworkers across the state; and

(3) A survey of the salaries and benefits of caseworkers in neighboring states.

(b) The results of this study and recommendations based upon the findings shall be reported to the Governor and Legislative Oversight Commission on Health and Human Resources Accountability by July 1, 2022.