According to new data, allegations of child abuse involving drug endangerment are four times higher in West Virginia than the national average, according to Child Advocacy Centers serving kids around the state. (Getty Images)
Allegations of child abuse involving drug endangerment are four times higher in West Virginia than the national average, according to Child Advocacy Centers serving kids around the state.
The data, released this week by the West Virginia Child Advocacy Network, further sheds light on the state’s overwhelmed foster care system. The number of kids coming into state care has ballooned alongside the state’s substance abuse crisis.
West Virginia’s 21 Child Advocacy Centers last year saw an 8% increase of new children served.
“We must do all that we can to ensure the stability and continuity of our 21 Child Advocacy Centers in the Mountain State so that critical services to child survivors of abuse and children and youth who have been exposed to the opioid epidemic can continue to be provided, said Shiloh Woodard, interim chief executive officer of the WV CAN.
Child Advocacy Centers are in 47 of the state’s 55 counties. The facilities provide a safe, child-friendly environment where child protection services, treatment professionals and others can work together to investigate child abuse and help children heal.
The report, which reviewed July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024, said Child Advocacy Centers served 4,909 children in West Virginia. Sixteen percent of those children were there because of allegations of drug endangerment.
“Thirty-four percent of children interviewed made no disclosure of abuse during the forensic interview. Even when a child does not disclose, the multidisciplinary team may still have good cause to investigate the reports that prompted the child’s services at the CAC,” the report said.
Additionally, WV CAN reported that 95% of alleged offenders were someone the child knew.