{"id":12660,"date":"2026-05-08T12:30:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T12:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/05\/08\/wv-to-join-trumps-a-home-for-every-child-initiative-to-increase-number-of-foster-homes-west-virginia-watch\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T12:30:01","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T12:30:01","slug":"wv-to-join-trumps-a-home-for-every-child-initiative-to-increase-number-of-foster-homes-west-virginia-watch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/05\/08\/wv-to-join-trumps-a-home-for-every-child-initiative-to-increase-number-of-foster-homes-west-virginia-watch\/","title":{"rendered":"WV to join Trump\u2019s \u2018A Home for Every Child\u2019 initiative to increase number of foster homes &#8211; West Virginia Watch"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<ul id=\"dataCats\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/westvirginiawatch.com\/category\/child-welfare\">Child welfare<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/westvirginiawatch.com\/category\/health\">Health<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>\u2018We inherited a really brutal system. We\u2019re working hard on it,\u2019 said Gov. Patrick Morrisey.<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"dataContent\">\n<p><span>West Virginia will join the Trump administration\u2019s \u201cA Home for Every Child\u201d initiative meant to address a shortage of foster homes in the state.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>There are 5,580 children in the state\u2019s foster care system, which has faced scrutiny for children sleeping <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/westvirginiawatch.com\/2026\/01\/16\/number-of-west-virginia-foster-children-living-in-hotels-hasnt-decreased-on-morriseys-watch\/\"><span>in hotels<\/span><\/a><span> or <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/westvirginiawatch.com\/2026\/01\/15\/west-virginia-foster-child-injured-in-airbnb-property-where-state-was-housing-her\/\"><span>short-term rental homes<\/span><\/a><span>. There are <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dhhr.wv.gov\/Pages\/childwelfaredatadashboard.aspx\" target=\"_blank\"><span>currently<\/span><\/a><span> 549 foster children in out-of-state homes and institutions because there aren\u2019t enough in-state options.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The new federal initiative seeks to increase the ratio of foster homes to children in foster care while giving states greater flexibility to modernize child welfare systems and reduce unnecessary bureaucracy. It followed President Donald Trump\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2025\/11\/fostering-the-future-for-american-children-and-families\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span>executive order<\/span><\/a><span> focused on improving child welfare nationwide.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWest Virginia is committed to strengthening families, supporting foster parents, improving permanency outcomes and ensuring our child welfare system is focused on what matters most \u2014 protecting children and helping them thrive,\u201d Morrisey said Thursday at the state Capitol.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>West Virginia will redesign its foster care parent screening process to reduce barriers, he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Assistant Secretary Alex Adams with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services\u2019 Administration for Children and Families joined Morrisey at the announcement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe Trump administration is thrilled to welcome West Virginia as the 19th state to join our national initiative aimed at increasing the ratio of foster homes to children in foster care,\u201d Adams said. \u201cUnder Gov. Morrisey\u2019s leadership, the state will be able to strengthen efforts that keep families safely together and support foster family recruitment and retention to ensure no child has to wait on a safe, loving, stable home.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The federal government will renegotiate its program improvement plan with West Virginia and provide \u201crecord red tape relief\u201d to reduce time-consuming paperwork for caseworkers, Adams explained.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Morrisey stressed that his administration is making improvements to the troubled foster care system, noting a new child welfare screening tool and a focus on improving consistency statewide in the handling of children\u2019s cases.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWe inherited a really brutal system,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re working hard on it. What we\u2019re doing isn\u2019t perfect but we are making progress \u2026 This administration is committed to putting more time in than people have ever seen before.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Morrisey <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/westvirginiawatch.com\/2026\/04\/02\/morriseys-vetoes-strike-several-gop-foster-care-bills-one-helped-wv-youth-aging-out-of-system\/\"><span>recently vetoed<\/span><\/a><span> multiple foster care bills, including a Republican-sponsored measure <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/westvirginiawatch.com\/2026\/04\/08\/wv-youth-aging-out-of-foster-care-face-waitlist-for-resources-morrisey-vetoes-bill-to-address-issue\/\"><span>meant to expand support<\/span><\/a><span> for youth exiting the foster care system.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The governor also vetoed <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wvlegislature.gov\/Bill_Status\/bills_history.cfm?INPUT=4393&#038;year=2026&#038;sessiontype=RS\" target=\"_blank\"><span>a measure<\/span><\/a><span> that would have required the state to develop and implement a plan for preventing children from entering the foster care system.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>At the press conference Thursday, Morrisey said the state is focused on improving prevention efforts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cToo often the children entered the foster care system because support systems had failed earlier in the process,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re working to change that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Morrisey said his administration continues to focus on partnering with churches and faith-based organizations to address the foster care crisis, including recruiting foster homes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Child welfare Health \u2018We inherited a really brutal system. We\u2019re working hard on it,\u2019 said Gov. Patrick Morrisey. West Virginia will join the Trump administration\u2019s \u201cA Home for Every Child\u201d initiative meant to address a shortage of foster homes in the state. There are 5,580 children in the state\u2019s foster care system, which has faced [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12661,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}