In June of 2022, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources began a "Child Welfare Dashboard" that has both statewide information as well as individual county data. Primarily focused on the number of kids in care (with categories of kinds of placements, basic demographics, tracking of out of state placements) and the numbers of the Child Protective Service workforce (filled positions and vacancies).
The Wood County Foster Care Initiative Dashboard hopes to dig deeper in dynamics of the child welfare system at a community level. Much of the strain on the child welfare system (foster care and its associated services) has been closely linked to the substance abuse issues within our community. It is the intent of the Wood County Foster Care Initiative to assist the McDonough Foundation partners understanding of the issues at hand, identify gaps and needs that could be assisted by partners, and help the broader community understand the issues better. This will be accomplished through identifying the existing work, understanding the data and outcomes in child welfare at the community level, and bringing research and resources into light for the community to consider.
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