Charleston, W.Va. — West Virginia had 390 children in foster care placed in facilities outside the state as of June, and it spends more than $60 million a year on those out-of-state placements, state officials told a legislative oversight committee on Sept. 14. The out-of-state count has not fallen along with the state’s overall foster care population, which has dropped from more than 7,000 children in 2020 to 5,719 today, according to West Virginia Watch.
Lawmakers on the Legislative Oversight Committee on Health and Human Resources pressed the Department of Human Services on where those children are being sent and why. Children from West Virginia have been placed in facilities in California, Minnesota, Texas, Washington and other states, the outlet reported.
Lawmakers say there is no plan to bring children home
Sen. Vince Deeds, R-Greenbrier, said the committee still lacks basic information about the placements and how the state intends to end them.
Ultimately, we need to know where these children are going and why they are going out of state.
Sen. Vince Deeds, R-Greenbrier, to West Virginia Watch
Deeds added that he did not “feel that there’s a clear plan on how to bring them home and how to develop those facilities here,” according to West Virginia Watch.
Kendra Boley Rogers, deputy commissioner of the department’s Bureau of Social Services, told the committee that building in-state programs is a priority and that the department is reviewing plans for new local psychiatric residential treatment programs. “Our primary goal is to serve as many children in the community as possible,” she said.
What the numbers show
According to the figures presented to lawmakers and reported by West Virginia Watch, 448 children were placed in in-state facilities as of June, against roughly 450 residential beds. The state’s only psychiatric facility for children can hold 15 but serves about nine because of staffing limits. The state reported between 1,159 and 1,192 active foster homes.
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West Virginia has already pulled children out of some out-of-state facilities over alleged dangerous conditions, abuse or educational problems, the outlet reported. Officials said the state lacks in-state options for children who self-harm, display sexualized behaviors, or have mental health needs combined with autism, which are the children most often sent away.
Gov. Patrick Morrisey had proposed a $6 million “Bring Them Home” fund aimed at returning 380 children to West Virginia. Lawmakers did not fund it. House Finance Chairman Vernon Criss, R-Wood, said of the proposal, “There was no appetite for it.”
A dispute over why fewer children are in care
Boley Rogers credited the overall decline in foster care to progress against the substance use crisis, safer reunifications and falling overdose deaths. WCHS reported that she cited a 5% drop in placements between 2025 and 2026.
Not every lawmaker accepted that explanation. Sen. Brian Helton told WCHS he doubted falling overdose deaths explain the drop, and said the more likely cause is “how we’re handling these CPS cases.” Helton said lawmakers are looking at bills for the next session focused on treatment outcomes so parents can get sober and keep their children, and called for revisiting foster care bills that failed last session.
Why distance matters
A child placed hundreds of miles away is cut off from parents, siblings, schools and the local court that is supposed to be watching the case. Parents working a reunification plan cannot easily visit, and caseworkers and guardians ad litem rarely see conditions inside a facility in another state. West Virginia has already had to remove children from some of those facilities after problems surfaced, which raises the question of who was checking before they were sent.
For families, the practical lesson is to put every placement decision on the record: ask in court where the child is being sent, why no closer option exists, and how visits will happen. FAN’s guide to foster care system problems explains how out-of-state placements weaken a parent’s ability to stay connected and reunify.
Key facts
- 390 West Virginia foster children were placed out of state as of June 2026.
- The state spends more than $60 million a year on out-of-state facilities.
- Total children in foster care: 5,719, down from more than 7,000 in 2020.
- 448 children were in in-state facilities, which have about 450 residential beds.
- The state’s only child psychiatric facility can hold 15 but serves about nine.
- Lawmakers declined to fund Gov. Morrisey’s proposed $6 million “Bring Them Home” fund for 380 children.
- The figures were presented to the Legislative Oversight Committee on Health and Human Resources on Sept. 14, 2026.
Sources
- West Virginia Watch — Number of West Virginia foster children decreasing, but hundreds of kids still going out of state (2026-09-15)
- WCHS — Hundreds of West Virginia foster kids remain placed out-of-state despite overall drop (2026-09-16)
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