The newly created Department of Human Services will expand the state’s prevention programs and attempt to establish closer ties to the communities it serves, the agency’s incoming secretary told lawmakers Monday.
Department of Human Services Secretary Dr. Cynthia Persily updated lawmakers on the department’s priorities during a meeting of the Legislative Oversight Committee on Health and Human Resources Accountability.
The Department of Human Services was one of three new agencies created as a result of the Legislature's decision in March to split the state Department of Health and Human Resources. Also created were the Department of Health and the Department of Health Facilities.
Each department has a secretary recently appointed by Gov. Jim Justice. Dr. Sherri Young was named secretary of Health and Michael Caruso was installed as secretary of Health Facilities.
Human Services includes the Office of Drug Control Policy, as well as the bureaus of Social Services, Medical Services, Family Assistance, Child Support Enforcement, and Behavioral Health, Persily said.
She said the department will focus on evaluating and creating a system of care for the state’s nearly 8,000 foster children, with an emphasis on reducing reliance on residential care and placing a priority on kinship care.
"We are actually the first in the nation in terms of the percentage of our children in foster care who are with kin or family," Persily said.
Another priority will be to fully utilize the resources provided by the Family First Prevention Resources Act. Signed into law in 2018, the purpose of the federal legislation was to turn the focus of the child welfare system toward keeping children safely with their families.
The law provides families with greater access to mental health services, substance use treatment and parenting skills courses.
"Prevention is something that we should really be focusing on, and the Family First Prevention Act allows us to have some additional funding and support to be able to do that," Persily said.
Part of the federal support is being used to bolster Family Support Centers now located in nearly every county. These locations provide a range of services to families with a focus on prevention, Persily said.
"We need to go upstream and provide support to families before they get to the point where we are needing to remove children for abuse and neglect," Persily said.
According to Persily, safety, education and workforce services like those offered at Family Support Centers have been shown to reduce cases of abuse and neglect. Population health initiatives, which are often centered around these locations, are also shown to be effective when properly funded and supported, she said.
"By investing in them, we can prevent worsening and certainly improve our system of care," Persily said.
Other priorities include investing more in pre-placement screening of children entering the foster care system, and getting a program off the ground to build and support Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics.
Persily said there will also be a focus on gaining a deeper understanding of services available in each county, including programs offered outside of the DHHR. This will provide valuable information to the department’s 37 Family Support Centers.
Sen. Vince Deeds, R-Greenbrier, said he was particularly encouraged by Persily's focus on community-based initiatives.
"CPS workers want to have an intimate level of communication locally, but they also want to make sure they're in step with the overall mission of the department," Deeds said. "If you can continue to develop the communication on the local level, that would be fantastic."
Roger Adkins covers politics. He can be reached at 304-348-4814 or email radkins@hdmediallc.com. Follow @RadkinsWV on Twitter.
