HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 94
(By Delegate Amores)
Requesting that the Joint Committee on Government and Finance
continue to study West Virginia's efforts to meet its moral
and legal obligation of caring for children in this State who
are caught up in potentially devastating and deeply personal
legal and medical matters involving child welfare, child abuse
and neglect, serious emotional disorders, developmental
disabilities, and impaired social functioning; exploring
fundamental questions about the wisdom of West Virginia's
current practices for allocating resources for children's
services across the wide range of diverse and often competing
agencies and organizations; examining the potential for
benefitting children and ultimately realizing tangible savings
to the State as a result of a more coordinated approach to
fulfilling its responsibility to its troubled children and
their families; diverting or redirecting resources currently
spent on out-of-state placements that may not be necessary and
"high end" services that could be avoided or reduced through
early identification and prevention services, supplied by in-
state service providers in local facilities and in home and
community based settings; attaining and ensuring successful
outcomes for children in permanency, safety and well being; reducing future costs to the State by reducing the need for
medical, legal and correctional services to adults whose
problems stem from a damaged childhood; examining
reimbursement rates and the role they play in shaping the
infrastructure of the State's "system of care" through their
financial incentive to provide certain services and not
others; examining and evaluating the work of interagency
multidisciplinary teams ("MDTs") that are charged with
investigating child abuse and neglect and developing
individual service plans for each child involved in court
proceedings, including the problem of "turf" issues,
development of standardized procedures based on best practices
and determining the best mechanism for oversight and
accountability of local MDTs; clarifying the roles and
responsibilities of individual MDT team members; considering
the facilitation and direction of treatment planning teams by
neutral third parties who have no stake in the outcome of the
team's deliberations; monitoring the State's implementation of
its "Program Improvement Plan for Children and Family
Services" and tracking the funding allocated for meeting
deficiencies identified by the federal government; using a
standardized comprehensive assessment and planning system as
a way to eliminate unnecessary placement of children in out-
of-state facilities and to enhance communication among all the
parties involved; monitoring and evaluating joint planning
efforts undertaken by the various agencies of the State in partnership with service providers, community leaders and
families in need of services; establishing and reviewing
objective performance indicators for the programs which serve
children and their families; and making recommendations for
policy and programmatic changes to improve outcomes for the
children of West Virginia and their families.
Whereas, The State of West Virginia is morally and legally
responsible for protecting its children who have been abused,
neglected, or abandoned and to provide certain services to children
and their families in cases of serious physical or mental illness,
developmental delays and disabilities, and juvenile justice issues
involving delinquency and status offenses; and
Whereas, On any given day, there are approximately 3,000 West
Virginia children who have been placed in residential facilities
providing child welfare services; and
Whereas, On average, nearly 15 percent of these children are
sent out of state, away from family and friends, to residential
treatment facilities providing services that in most cases can be
provided by West Virginia service providers, in home and community
based settings, with better results for children and their families
and lower costs to the State, both now and in the future; and
Whereas, West Virginia contributes over $23 million annually to
the economies of other states by sending our children there for
treatment; and
Whereas, While some needed services are not available here,
most children could remain in state for treatment, thus providing an economic base that could conceivably create 1,000 new jobs for
West Virginians; and
Whereas, West Virginia can ill afford to export jobs, tax
revenue and consumer expenditures that could be generated by West
Virginia businesses and organizations that provide children's
services; and
Whereas, West Virginia's treatment and foster care providers
are nationally accredited and offer some of the best treatment
options in the country; and
Whereas, On average,
per diem reimbursement rates are no higher
at in-state facilities than those in other states; and
Whereas, There have been ongoing efforts by the legislative,
executive and judicial branches of state government, in partnership
with non-profit and private sector providers, families and
children's advocates, to improve this "system of care"; and
Whereas, legislation currently pending in the Legislature could
dramatically affect the outlook for this perennial problem by
making it a matter of public policy that children whose care is
funded, even in part, with state dollars, should remain in this
state for treatment, unless needed services are unavailable or the
best interests of the child dictate otherwise; and
Whereas, The Legislature should continue it current, ongoing
oversight of the State's child welfare programs, and expand those
efforts by closely monitoring administrative measures aimed at
attaining compliance with federal requirements for permanency,
safety and well being; therefore, be it
Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Joint Committee on Government and Finance is hereby
requested to continue and expand its study of the current "system
of care" that serves our most vulnerable citizens, our children,
and develop strategies for improving the outcomes of that care and
expending public resources in more prudent and beneficial ways;
and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Joint Committee on Government and
Finance report to the regular session of the Legislature, 2005, on
its findings, conclusions and recommendations, together with drafts
of any legislation necessary to effectuate its recommendations;
and, be it
Further Resolved, That the expenses necessary to conduct this
study, to prepare a report and to draft necessary legislation be
paid from legislative appropriations to the Joint Committee on
Government and Finance.
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