Senate Bill No. 52
(By Senator Boley)
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[Introduced February 9, 2005; referred to the Committee
on Health and Human Resources; and then to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new article, designated §49-6F-1 and
§49-6F-2, all relating to creating the Office of Child
Protection Ombudsman; authorizing the Ombudsman to hire
assistants; providing the Ombudsman investigate and monitor
the Department of Health and Human Resources' Division of
Child Protective Services to determine if it complies with
federal guidelines; requiring the Ombudsman to investigate
complaints against circuit and family law judges concerning
alleged failures to adequately protect children; setting forth
powers and duties of the Ombudsman; and requiring the
Ombudsman, upon taking office, to propose legislative rules
designed to implement the provisions of the article.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new article, designated §49-6F-1 and §49-6F-2,
all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6F. OFFICE OF CHILD PROTECTION OMBUDSMAN.
§49-6F-1. Office of Child Protection Ombudsman created to monitor
child protective services and members of judiciary;
office to be independent.
(a) There is hereby created the Office of Ombudsman which
shall investigate the administrative acts of the department related
to services rendered in child abuse and neglect cases. The
ombudsman shall be appointed by the Governor with the advice and
consent of the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House
of Delegates. The ombudsman may appoint an adequate number of
assistants to properly perform the duties of his or her office.
The total compensation of the assistants shall be within the limits
of the amounts appropriated by the Legislature for personal
services. All assistants serve at the pleasure of the ombudsman
and they shall perform the duties required by the ombudsman.
(b) The Office of the Ombudsman shall be independent of the
Department of Health and Human Resources.
§49-6F-2. Specific duties and authority of child protection
ombudsman.
(a) The duties of the ombudsman includes:
(1) To monitor and investigate the performance of child protective services rendered by the department, particularly
whether the performance complies with the requirements of the
Adoption and Safe Family Act;
(2) To accept and investigate complaints against circuit or
family court judges involving allegations that the judges have
failed in their legal duties towards abused or neglected children;
(3) To intervene in pending litigation involving abused or
neglected children in order to insure circuit or family court
judges comply with legal requirements related to abused or
neglected children, and to appeal judicial acts or orders to the
State Supreme Court of Appeals in the event the acts or orders
appear not to be in compliance with applicable legal requirements;
(4) To report to the Legislature and to the Governor annually,
concerning the state of the department and the state of the
judiciary relative to each entity's specific duties in child abuse
and neglect cases;
(5) To act as a neutral and nonadversarial arbiter in disputes
between citizens and the Department's Division of Child Protective
Services;
(6) To hold citizen's confidences when citizens make
complaints against the Department's Division of Child Protective
Services or circuit or family court judges;
(7) To make recommendations to the Legislature and the
Governor for legislative or administrative changes designed to improve the Department's performance in responding to child abuse
and neglect cases as well as the judiciary's role in the protection
of children from child abuse and child neglect;
(8) To remain knowledgeable and informed regarding current
law, changes in the law and trends in the law
vis a vis child abuse
and child neglect and to answer queries from the public regarding
same;
(9) To remain knowledgeable and informed concerning the
department's administrative practices, procedures and policies as
they relate to the protection of children;
(10) To file legal actions, including, but not limited to,
actions in mandamus, prohibition, or declaratory judgement actions,
that seek to require governmental officials to perform necessary
activities to adequately serve and protect children or to prohibit
those officials from engaging in actions that are counterproductive
to the protection and welfare of children; and
(11) To do all necessary activities intended to improve the
Department's Child Protective Services Division.
(b) Upon enactment of this article, the ombudsman shall
propose legislative rules in accordance with article three, chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code designed to implement the provisions of
this article.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create the Office of Child Protection Ombudsman. The bill, additionally, authorizes
the ombudsman to hire assistants; requires the ombudsman to
investigate and monitor the Department of Health and Human
Resources Division of Child Protective Services to determine if it
complies with federal guidelines; requires the ombudsman to
investigate complaints against circuit and family law judges
concerning alleged failures to adequately protect children; sets
forth powers and duties of the ombudsman; and, requires the
ombudsman, upon taking office, to propose legislative rules
designed to implement the provisions of the article.
This article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.
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