West Virginia Establishes a Child Locator Unit to Help Find Missing Foster Children

“West Virginia has had hundreds of foster children run away in the past, but it now has a new child locater unit to help find them.

In 2019, the West Virginia’s Health and Human Resources Department said 651 foster care children, mostly teen boys, ran away from group care settings or schools in less than a year, according to a story from The Associated Press.

A news release from the DHHR Thursday said it has established a child locater unit within its Bureau of Children and Families. Created during the 2020 legislative session, the unit will consist of three staff dedicated to receiving reports of and locating missing foster youth.

“Children who enter the foster care system, particularly at age 12 or older, may have endured higher levels of instability, abuse and neglect, factors which heighten the risk of running away,” said Linda Watts, commissioner of DHHR’s Bureau for Children and Families. “This unit places a critical focus on runaway foster care youth and will work collaboratively with state and federal partners, as well as the assigned child welfare worker, to ensure a coordinated search and recovery effort.”

When a foster child is determined to be missing, a child locator will be assigned to begin gathering information about the youth and the circumstances leading to the runaway event. When missing foster children are found, the child locators will conduct an interview to understand the reasons the child chose to run away and the experiences the child had while on the run.

This unit is expected to be fully operational by January 2021.”

New West Virginia child locater unit will help find missing foster kids

[WCHSTV 10/8/2020 by Jeff Morris]

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