Senate Bill No. 536
(By Senator Jones)
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[Introduced March 22, 1993; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend article six, chapter forty-nine of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
one-a, relating to the department of health and human
resources; and requiring minimum staffing complement for
child protective cases.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article six, chapter forty-nine of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section one-a
to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6. PROCEDURE IN CASES OF CHILD NEGLECT OR ABUSE.
§49-6-1a. Minimum staffing complement for child protective
services.
The staffing complement of the department of health and
human resources shall be increased by the secretary of health and
human resources to assure that a child protective service workerdoes not have more than twenty-five on-going cases and not more
than fifteen child protective services investigations each month.
Direct child protective service worker positions, necessary to
assure this staffing complement, are exempt from hiring
restrictions and personnel ceilings.
Nothing in this section shall prevent any employee of the
department of health and human services from providing services
in emergency situations in order to carry out other statutory
mandates.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to set minimum staffing
requirements for child protective services in the Department of
Health and Human Resources.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.