Unicare, Atnea and the Health Plan recently submitted bids to run West Virginia’s foster care system, but some residents believe the transition to a private, managed care organization, needs to slow down.

One petition was started by Betty Rivard in partnership with Our Children, Our Future; the WV Citizens Action Group to Veto HB 2010 in the first place. While it had no impact on passing of HB 2010, it did gain some traction on twitter.

I just took action on @theactionnet: WV Foster Children deserve better than a MCO!!! Tell them there is an Alternative to 2010!!!. Take action here: https://t.co/XRole6uB6T

— Cynthia D. Ellis ☮️ (@CynthiaDEllis2) March 8, 2019

https://twitter.com/NanaMagL/status/1104136684789268482

When champions of the privatisation of children's services say they just want "a level playing field ", remember:

– 80% of children's homes are privately owned
– 40% of foster care (and rising) is via private agencies
– most children's mental health care is private

— Martin Barrow (@MartinBarrow) August 25, 2019

The petition was due to the DHHR’s MCO proposal not requiring an assigned care manager to every child, or for the care manager to meet with the child and family in person. There was also no language requiring the MCO to work with already established community based programs.

With HB 2010 passed in March, the Department of Human Relations and Resources is required to contract out specialized care for the young in WV’s foster care and the bid deadline was Aug. 16. This new change will impact the 7,000 children that are currently in the system.

However, one prominent voice on twitter who advocated for the takeover of an MCO to the foster care system was Kelli Casemen, director of Child Health.

I see def benefits for putting foster care kids under an MCO– like the other 180,000 Medicaid kids who have been under an MCO for about 10+ years in WV. I also think we need a public/private stakeholders group that meets quarterly to monitor the program & use the data 4 change.

— Kelli Caseman (@kkcaseman) November 26, 2018

Also, the chosen company won't take over the foster care system. Which isn't to say it won't provide more that just managed care services. It rolls more CPS/foster services under their charge. This is what made it rather controversial. Contract terms here https://t.co/PuIVqfNcGm.

— Kelli Caseman (@kkcaseman) August 20, 2019

Mimicking this view, Sen. Mike Maroney also believes we need to give a private company a chance to help clean up the system. Here is a snippet of Maroney from “The Foster Care Overhaul Legislation Passes in WV Legislature” by Conor Griffith:

“I think we should give them a change,” he said, adding that no DHHR Staff or current state foster care resources are to be cut, including resources to help foster care kids who are not placed in an MCO’s Care.