WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE
2025 REGULAR SESSION
Introduced
Senate Bill 822
By Senator Chapman
[Introduced March 20, 2025; referred
to the Committee on Health and Human Resources; and then to the Committee on Finance]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding a new article, designated §49-2-815, relating to the use of technology in child abuse and neglect investigations; requiring the Department of Human Services to use mobile technology to assist child protective services workers who conduct investigations; requiring an operating system in the mobile technology; requiring the operating system to create a contemporaneous, electronic record; requiring the record to be uploaded; requiring the operating system to be interoperable with existing department programs; requiring data extracting for quality review; and requiring members to review the data.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
On or before December 1, 2025, the department shall use mobile technology to assist child protective workers to conduct child abuse and neglect investigations. The mobile technology shall have an operating system that is customized for child welfare casework. This operating system shall allow a child protective services worker to create a contemporaneous, digital record of all components of the investigation which shall be uploaded automatically electronically on a daily basis if not more frequently. The operating system used on the mobile technology shall be interoperable with existing department programs to allow relevant quality metrics to be extracted from the operating system into standard reports to be analyzed for systemic improvement. The quality metrics shall be extracted on a monthly basis and analyzed by the secretary and members of his or her staff charged with systemic improvement of the child welfare system.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require the Department of Human Services to provide child welfare workers with mobile technology that will permit them to conduct investigations and create a digital record. This will upload to the system automatically and reduce the need for a child protective services worker to input data manually into a system. This will enhance service delivery to children. This data will allow managers to have real time access to data to conduct quality improvement analysis.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.