Twelve children in WV’s foster care system filed a lawsuit against the Department of Human Resources, as well as the governor and other state officials; residents don’t know who to blame. 

Advocates including, A Better Childhood, law firm Shaffer and Shaffer and Disability Rights of West Virginia, filed a federal class action lawsuit on Tuesday, as they felt the DHHR’s handling of the system was ineffective.

One claim in the lawsuit, according to Erin Beck of the Register-Herald, was that the root of the problem was not the drug epidemic in WV, but rather just put more pressure on the already fractured system.

“We’re not seeking money damages,” said Marcia Robinson Lowry, executive director of A Better Childhood. “We’re seeking for things to change going forward – that the government must take care of these kids.”

From the Register-Herald

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Facebook group, WV CPS Corruption Exposed, expressed their support. 

However, not all community members agree with this notion. One WV resident took to Facebook to argue that WV’s DHHR and other state officials are not responsible for all of the repercussions of the opioid crisis.

Everybody and their aunt knows by now that the drug epidemic in WV has had consequences in many different forms for the region. WV simply has not had the resources to fully tackle the issue that has spun out of control since 2015.

As you can see from the chart above from google trends, the conversation and related incidents among the drug epidemic and WV foster care have always gone hand in hand. I do not see how a federal lawsuit will help with resolving the complexity of the issue.