WV House slashes funding for foster care, DoHS says it would significantly hinder critical services

by Amelia Ferrell Knisely, West Virginia Watch
April 3, 2025

Funding for foster care has been slashed in the House Finance Committee as members opted to ignore Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s proposed budget, including his $182 million request for a child welfare system in crisis. 

There are more than 5,800 children in foster care, and there aren’t enough Child Protective Services workers, in-state available beds or services to help them. 

The House’s version of the fiscal year 2026 budget, up for passage this week, would give roughly $121 million to the Department of Human Services to manage its foster care system. 

The governor’s proposed budget was still less than what the department needed. It proposed $3 million for CPS, which was less than a third of what the agency had said it needed to hire more than 100 new CPS workers. The state’s CPS workers are often managing overwhelming caseloads.

Now, the agency could have to operate with even less.

Angelica Hightower, a DoHS spokesperson, said the original $182 million requested by the governor was “essential funding” to meet the ongoing needs of the Bureau for Social Services, including serving children in foster care and operating critical services for families. 

“In contrast, the proposed budget reduction put forward by the House Finance Committee would significantly hinder the department’s ability to deliver services effectively and respond to the pressing challenges currently facing the foster care system,” Hightower said. 

House Finance Chairman Vernon Criss, R-Wood, disregarded Morrisey’s budget, opting for the House to present its own budget bill that includes a surplus “cushion,” as he put it. “It’s our job to tell him how much money to spend,” he said. 

Criss said his committee looked at last year’s foster care funding to determine what to allocate for the upcoming fiscal year. 

“We didn’t necessarily take cuts from what he did, but what we did was ignore his budget entirely and used our ‘25 budget to drive a ‘26 budget,” he explained.

Del. John Williams, D-Monongalia, minority chair of the House Finance Committee, said that skinny budgets passed under Gov. Jim Justice meant that foster care had already been underfunded. Foster care can’t be fixed without putting money into it, he said. 

“When you have any foster kids living out of trash bags in a hotel, that is not a point in time in which you give tax breaks to the rich,” he said. “These programs are struggling.”

Morissey, when responding to a question from West Virginia Watch on Thursday, said that he put forth a “common sense proposal” on foster care funding. The state may need more funding to make positive changes to foster care, CPS and more, he said.

“My philosophy … is that when you have ongoing programs, you generally try to have ongoing revenue that matches. And that’s what we’re trying to do,” Morrisey said.

Kelly Allen, executive director of the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, said the House’s budget bill fell short of what was needed to truly improve child welfare outcomes. She cited more than $50 million in proposed cuts to Medicaid along with no new financial investments in public education.

“The ability to make those investments is hindered by a stubborn commitment to keeping the budget flat, even if that leaves critical needs unfunded,” she said. “Without making much-needed investments in evidence-based primary supports, it will be challenging to stem the untenable flow of children into our overburdened foster care system.”

Some line item increases for CPS and other child welfare

The House’s budget bill does include a few million dollars more specifically for CPS workers than what was requested by Morrisey. It also includes $5 million for guardians ad litems, which are attorneys who represent the interests of children in child welfare court proceedings. There’s also $1.8 million allocated to Court Appointed Special Advocates, or CASA, a volunteer program that helps abused and neglected children in the court system. 

“I am glad to see we are making some investments in child welfare, specifically for our [guardian ad litems] and CASA. I can always wish that we would have received more for child welfare but these allocations shouldn’t be overlooked. Any investment is a step in the right direction,” said Del. Adam Burkhammer, R-Lewis, a foster parent who has spearheaded child welfare legislation this session.  

Criss said he felt confident that DoHS would be able to adequately operate the foster care system under the House’s proposed budget.

“If not, we’ll be back in January, [and] there’ll be additional supplementals at that time,” he said. “We know that we’ve got a $100 million surplus in the current year.  If there’s monies left over, we’ll be able to maneuver and take care of things as things move along, and in January, we’ll have a better picture.”

The Senate’s budget version, vetted by the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday, would fund foster care at the same level requested by the governor.

Morrisey said he believed that issues with foster care funding would be resolved by the end of lawmakers’ budget process. The legislative session is scheduled to adjourn April 12.

“There are some differences ….  I’m hopeful that as time goes on, the different parties are going to get together. I think that they will,” the governor said.  

Jaycie Bias is the executive director of the WV Foster, Adoptive & Kinship Parents Network, which represents 1,800 families.

Funding isn’t the issue, from her point of view. Instead, the state needs to focus on improving the quality of the foster care system. CPS workers are failing to check on children living in foster homes, she said, and reimbursement payments to foster families are irregular. 

“There are statues in place that aren’t being followed through,” she said. “The state is doing so little for us in terms of follow through that you are having people fall through the cracks.”

While the state struggles to have enough foster homes, Bias said DoHS prioritizing and communicating with those who are willing to foster — which doesn’t take money — would likely solve that problem.

West Virginia Watch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Leann Ray for questions: info@westvirginiawatch.com.