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Committee advances broad child‑welfare and residential program oversight bill; provider seeks exemption for nationally accredited schools
Summary
A Senate committee reported House Bill 2880 to the full Senate after adopting a strike‑and‑insert; the bill would create licensure standards and oversight for residential and therapeutic boarding programs, expand foster‑care transparency and require background checks and critical‑incident reviews.
The Senate Health committee advanced House Bill 2880, a comprehensive child‑welfare package that would establish licensure and minimum standards for residential programs, require background checks for program staff, create a critical‑incident review team, expand transparency for foster‑care ombudsman access and add a patient‑navigator concept associated with child‑welfare court processes.
Counsel described the bill as creating licensure requirements and minimum standards addressing use of restraints, suicide‑prevention procedures, complaint processes and responses to critical incidents for programs that offer wilderness, outdoor expedition, boot‑camp‑style or therapeutic boarding‑school experiences. The bill would exclude recreational programs such as Boy Scouts and 4‑H, require background checks through the West Virginia CARES system operated by the Office of Inspector General and require legislative rulemaking to set the standards.
The measure would also require a pamphlet be provided to parents or guardians who are the subject of child‑abuse or neglect investigations explaining how the foster‑care system and the court process work; expand foster‑care ombudsman access to certain information; and establish timelines for submission of child‑welfare dashboard information.
After counsel summarized a pending strike‑and‑insert, the vice chair moved the amendment as explained and the committee adopted it. After committee votes the measure was reported to the full Senate with a recommendation that it pass as amended.
Shortly after the vote, Steve Finn, executive director of Chestnut Mountain Ranch in Morgantown, asked to address the committee by unanimous consent. Finn described his organization — a boarding school licensed under an education exemption and accredited by the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) — and urged that the bill include an exemption for nationally accredited schools because his program already maintains many of the safeguards the bill would require. Committee members said floor amendment opportunities remain and noted the bill can be revised on second reading if needed.
