Fixing West Virginia’s Foster Care System: From Blame to Solutions
By Mark Drennan, Vice President, National Youth Advocate Program (NYAP)
U.S. District Judge Goodwin’s recent statement about West Virginia’s foster care system—calling out years of inaction, bureaucratic indifference, shocking neglect, and temporary fixes—is painfully accurate.
There is plenty of blame to go around. Blame, however, leads nowhere. Instead, we must focus on real solutions, starting with a fundamental shift in our approach to child welfare.
A System Built on the Wrong Incentives
Currently, the system seems to prioritize quantity over quality. The more youth who enter the system and the longer they remain, the more funding is generated. We need to change the financial incentives to prioritize outcomes—stability, permanency, and family reunification—over numbers.
Since the goal should be to ensure safety and stability for children, youth, and families as quickly and effectively as possible, we must shift funding models so that positive outcomes are our measure of success. The faster a child and their family reach stability, the greater the reward should be so that our children, youth, and families get what they want most and agencies are rewarded as well.
Keeping Families Together
The best outcome for any child is to remain safely with their family whenever possible. This does not mean we should never remove a child or youth when safety demands it—sometimes we must, and we should. But the state, no matter how hard it tries, is a poor substitute for primary families. The reality is that youth need and crave connection to their communities and heritage.
We must focus on community-based care that keeps families intact while giving parents the tools and skills they need to be successful. Family preservation programs should be prioritized, ensuring parents receive parenting support, substance use treatment, mental health care, and economic assistance before a child or youth is removed.
Strengthening Foster Care for Those Who Need It
When removal is necessary, we must ensure foster parents are appropriately trained, supported, and surrounded by a team of trauma-informed, caring professionals. These teams should include educators, therapists, medical professionals, and behavioral specialists. Foster parents should not have to navigate the challenges of raising children and youth who have experienced trauma alone.
To prevent disruptions, respite care must be an integral part of the system, allowing foster families to recharge while ensuring continuity of care for children and youth.
We also need families willing to adopt youth whose parental rights have been terminated. Finding safe and stable homes for children and youth in need should be a top priority.
For children and youth with the most complex needs, higher level, community-based programming must be made available. These programs should focus on healing and preparing youth and their families for a future outside the system, whether through reunification, adoption, or independent living.
Creating a Culture of Mentorship and Kinship Support
One of the most overlooked components of a strong solution is mentorship between foster and biological parents. We should encourage experienced foster parents to mentor and support primary families. Building relationships and sharing parenting skills can increase the chances of successful reunification.
Another is kinship care—where children are placed with relatives or fictive kin, like neighbors, teachers, or coaches, rather than strangers. Kinship caregivers often receive less financial and support services than traditional foster parents, even though youth in kinship placements experience better stability and outcomes. We must continue to change this, providing better supports for kinship caregivers.
A Call to Action
West Virginia’s foster care crisis will not be solved with more bureaucracy, blame, or the same failed strategies. It will take bold action to fund outcomes over processes, invest in families before removal, and support foster parents and kin caregivers as true partners in child welfare.
Judge Goodwin’s statement was not an exaggeration—it was a wake-up call. Now, we must commit to building a system that puts children, youth, and families first.
Mark Drennan currently serves as a vice president for the National Youth Advocate Program (NYAP). Before joining NYAP, he held the position of CEO at the West Virginia Behavioral Healthcare Providers Association (WVBHPA), where he represented and advocated for behavioral health providers.