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Senate creates Child First Advisory Committee to coordinate improvements to child welfare
Summary
The Senate unanimously approved legislation creating a permanent, cross‑branch advisory committee to improve child welfare outcomes and a fund to support related work, after proponents detailed systemic problems and urged ongoing, coordinated action.
The Senate on April 1 unanimously passed a bill creating the West Virginia Child First Advisory Committee and a related fund to support child welfare improvement efforts. The bill was the product of multiple committee sessions and floor revisions; senators emphasized the committee is intended as an ongoing, action‑oriented body rather than a one‑time study.
The committee will include legislative members, governor appointees with child‑welfare backgrounds, a Department of Human Services representative and a Supreme Court designee; legislative members serve in an ex officio capacity. It must meet at least quarterly and deliver an annual report to the governor and legislature beginning January 2026. The Department of Human Services will pay committee expenses, the sponsor said in adopting clarifying amendments.
A lengthy floor statement from the sponsor underscored the bill’s urgency, recounting court findings and news reports that, the sponsor said, document recurring failures in the foster‑care and child‑protection system and the need for sustained, cross‑branch oversight and reform. The sponsor said the committee is intended to accelerate fixes already under way and to provide a permanent locus for accountability and improvement.
Supporters stressed the bill does not impede immediate corrective actions already being taken by the executive branch; rather, it is meant to coordinate efforts and sustain oversight. The bill allows subcommittees and working groups and permits private fundraising and grant‑seeking for the newly created fund; no appropriation by the Legislature is required for the fund to exist.
The Senate passed the bill by voice and the clerk communicated the action to the House. Supporters said the committee could provide sustained attention, coordination and accountability for reforms in child protection, foster‑care placements and related court processes.
