West Virginia will expand school program for at-risk children to prevent foster care placements

by Amelia Ferrell Knisely, West Virginia Watch
January 6, 2026

Gov. Patrick Morrisey is expanding his efforts to improve the state’s overburdened foster care system, announcing a plan to put programs in public schools aimed at helping children before they need the child welfare system.

There are around 6,000 children in West Virginia’s foster care system. 

“This is a very difficult area, but I do think we’re making progress, and it’s important that we continue to update people about what’s going on,” Morrisey said Tuesday at the state Capitol in Charleston, West Virginia.

In an effort to reduce the number of children coming into the foster care system, Morrisey announced that the state will expand a program known as Star Academy. It’s a school-within-a-school model designed to help at-risk middle school students. 

The program, built on site at current schools, provides classroom instruction along with an academic recovery program to help students catch up. 

“I think it’s going to help kids, keep kids engaged in school and reduce some of the risks that lead to foster care involvement,” Morrisey said. 

His administration plans to open eight new Star Academy sites in the state.

Alex Mayer, secretary of the West Virginia Department of Human Services, said it was a good step in establishing primary prevention in the state. 

“I think prevention is a key part, though, to the overall success and reform in child welfare,” he said. “So while it’s not, I think, the only thing we have to be focusing on, it’s a key part in the reforms that we’re going to be putting in place and moving forward with here in West Virginia.”

Morrisey will use unspent federal Temporary Assistance for Need Families dollars to pay for the $8 million project, and he’ll need lawmakers to approve some changes to allow the expansion. States have discretion about how they use TANF, a federal emergency relief program, and it can be used to pay for a wide range of programs.

The program can serve up to 80 students per year and generally operate on a three to five year cycle. Morrisey that could allow the programs to serve up to 240 to 400 students per school. 

Star Academy has been piloted in four areas — Charleston, Logan, Martinsburg and Philippi. Results from West Virginia’s four pilot programs show an 81% decrease in behavioral incidents and a 63% increase in attendance. 

“We’re seeing that they’re already producing some strong results in math and English scores. But it’s on the behavioral side that we’re really encouraged,” Morrisey said.

West Virginia recently enacted a new school discipline law outlining how teachers can respond to violent and threatening behavior in the classroom following increased student discipline issues. 

Educators have linked worsening behavioral issues in schools to the state’s ongoing substance abuse crisis; behavioral issues can be because of abuse and neglect or a result of neonatal abstinence syndrome, they said. 

Fewer than half of the state’s 55 counties have alternate learning centers for children with behavioral issues.

No planned changes for homeschool students 

The Star Academy will serve students in public schools, and Morrisey said he wasn’t interested in “a whole new regulatory scheme” for parents who are homeschooling their children. 

The number of homeschool children in the state is growing. 

Previous Gov. Jim Justice and some Republicans previously floated the idea of tightening homeschool students’ reporting requirements after 14-year-old Kyneddi Miller, a homeschool student, died in 2024 from apparent starvation in Boone County. The girl’s mother hadn’t turned in the required homeschool assessments to the local school district that could have prompted someone to check in on the child. 

The Senate last year declined to take up a bill that would pause a parent’s request to homeschool if there’s a pending child abuse investigation against the parent. The measure was named “Raylee’s Law” for an 8-year-old girl who died of abuse and neglect in 2018 after her parents withdrew her from school. Educators at her elementary school had notified Child Protective Services of potential abuse. 

In response to a question from WOWK reporter Maddy Sperling, the governor said he trusted parents to take care of their children.

“I think it’s important that our kids are always brought up in the best and proper environments, and if there are complaints, they’re made, they’re all going to get addressed,” he said. 

Morrisey has announced several foster care reform efforts since taking office last year and recently unveiled a plan to bring 380 foster children in out-of-state institutions back to West Virginia. Foster children are in facilities in states including California, Texas, Utah and Washington, according to DoHS data.

The governor said he’ll request $6 million in state funding for a new fund aimed at renovating current state-owned buildings with the goal of opening beds for foster children who need acute mental and behavioral health services. 

The 60-day legislative session begins Wednesday, Jan. 14. Morrisey will deliver his second State of the State address that evening. 

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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.