‘3 bullet points’ — Lawmakers clearly dissatisfied with ordered DoHS report on WV child deaths

Lawmakers were clearly displeased with the first state Department of Human Services’ report on West Virginia child deaths, saying the short document was light on details as elected officials try to get a handle on the ongoing child welfare crisis.

A 2025 state law mandated the creation of the Critical Incident Review Team as lawmakers hoped to get more timely information about child deaths, particularly children in the foster care system or in active Child Protective Services cases.

A four-month-old baby in West Virginia foster care died in Mingo County in June, and DoHS hasn’t released any information about the case. The infant’s biological mother and foster caregiver were both charged in connection with the child’s death. 

The Morrisey administration is also investigating why Child Protective Services allegedly declined to remove an 11-year-old girl from her Taylor County home before she died from starvation, weighing just 43 pounds. 

The Critical Incident Review Team released their first report in July after they reviewed 32 cases between January and April, including 29 incidents where a child died. 

For many lawmakers, it missed the mark of what they’d required in the legislation. It was barely more than a page of information about the reviewed child deaths. 

“In our packet, there’s just a small report. Is that it?” asked Del. Adam Burkhammer, R-Lewis, co-chair of the Joint Committee on Children and Families. Burkhammer had been involved in crafting the 2025 bill mandating the team. 

“29 kids died and we got three bullet points to send out,” Burkhammer said.

“So, when you do the report, you don’t detail what the fatalities were? How is the Legislature supposed to do any changes by reading this?” questioned Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha.  “I mean, if you read this, do you think there’s anything you can glean from it?”

Of the 32 child death cases reviewed, the report said that 20 of the cases were screened out. 

Seven of the child deaths were determined to be the result of abuse or neglect, and the team noted a pattern of Sudden Unexpected Infant Death and co-sleeping deaths in infants. The report said that the team reviewed “a significant number of child suicides.”

“Due to lack of information in the report, we do not know ultimately if the children were ordered to stay within a home, or what kind of follow-up services were given (before) these seven children that died,” said Sen. Vince Deeds, R-Greenbrier, who serves as co-chair of the Joint Committee on Children and Families.

“We cannot make corrective measures here legislatively if we do not have good information. That’s the whole point about this critical incident review team,” he continued. “And based upon the questions that have been posed today, we’re still asking the same questions that we asked even before this legislation was passed.”

Kendra Boley Rogers, deputy commissioner for the state Bureau for Social Services, said the department is open to providing more details. 

“We are trying to enhance the report and meet every requirement required for the reporting,” she said, noting that they struggled to find someone who could provide the required epidemiological reporting on the deaths. 

“We’ll be honest, we’ve struggled with what to, what not to report, making sure we’re not breaking confidentiality, things like that,” Boley Rogers said. “This is definitely things that we need to hear so that we know what to work on internally as a review team, so that we can give you exactly what you need to make the recommendations and to change … any kind of process or code law, whatever is necessary, so that it improves what we’re doing here.”

Some referrals screened out involved teens dying in car accidents, she explained. 

Lawmakers said the Critical Incident Team — made up of DoHS employees, a state Supreme Court representative, lawmakers and more — must meet within 45 days of the fatality or near fatality to conduct the review and share a report with lawmakers and online. 

The team is also tasked with making recommendations to decrease preventable child fatalities and near fatalities in the state’s child welfare system.   

Boley Rogers said that some of their findings and recommendations go beyond the department, and they have suggestions for the West Virginia Department of Education to improve mental health services for children. 

“We see it as a positive for us to be able to identify issues within the department, outside of the department, so we can, as a team, there can be recommendations made,” Boley Rogers said. “I think there was not as much clarity in the law about when we submit those reports to the legislature (and) what happens with those recommendations.”

Burkhammer said he doesn’t support lengthening the time of the reporting requirement while DoHS struggled to gather information on the child deaths. 

“We want information. We’re trying to protect kids,” he said. “I’m hoping we can improve this process and we’ve got all the work to do.”

The next 90-day report on child deaths is expected to be submitted this week.