W.Va. House seeks to bolster foster care advocate

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) - With more than 6,000 children in foster care, the West Virginia House of Delegates is looking to bolster oversight of the state’s foster care system.

The House Health and Human Resources Committee advanced legislation Thursday to strengthen the role of the state’s foster care ombudsman.

The ombudsman position was created in 2019 to serve as an independent voice to advocate for foster children and those who care for them.

The new proposal, House Bill 3061, would extend the ombudsman’s reach, empowering the position to receive, investigate, and resolve allegations of abuse, neglect and death within the foster care system.

The purpose is not to bring criminal charges, but to identify patterns and trends in need of improvement to guide future policy.

The ombudsman’s director, Pamela Woodman-Kaehler, questioned Thursday about limits on her authority.

Del. Amy Summers, the committee chairwoman, points to the killings of a 3-month-old in Lewis County and five children in Greenbrier County.

The director says current law provides her team little to no access to those cases and the same goes for occurrences in the juvenile justice system.

“It is unclear in our current code, the way it is written, whether or not, we can fully serve those families, that youth and that we can access their record, and currently, because of that, in an abundance of caution, we don’t,” said Woodman-Kaehler, director of the W.Va. Foster Care Ombudsman Program.

“Now it looks like we’re actually giving some authority and autonomy to the office so we can get more done,” Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha. “I think this is a very good bill. It will go a long way to addressing the overwhelming issues that we have with our foster care system in this state.”

The proposal also adds protection to ensure that no one can stop the ombudsman from providing recommendations to the Governor and lawmakers.

The legislation also would protect the ombudsman’s work product by blocking it from discovery and subpoena in the court process. It now heads to the full House for consideration.

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