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DRWV ADVOCACY IN MOTION

Through our advocacy efforts, read how DRWV plays a crucial role in advancing disability rights in West Virginia, addressing systemic issues, and ensuring that individuals with disabilities can lead full, integrated lives with access to opportunities that promote self-direction and independence.

 

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  • 11/27/24 - West Virginia Watch
    West Virginia solicits company to manage its contract nurses, won’t answer questions. Since 2015, the state has spent $284 million on contract positions in state-run facilities, including long-term and psychiatric care.
     

  • 10/10/24 - West Virginia Public Broadcasting
    Watchdog Agency Announces Plan To Sue State Secretary Of Health Facilities.
    Disability Rights of West Virginia (DRWV) sent a notice of claim Monday to members of the media and state officials, alleging that Michael Caruso, secretary of the Department of Health Facilities (DHF) is failing to protect the rights of patients served by state health care facilities. 

    Michael Folio, the legal director of DRWV, alleged that the quality of care at these facilities is suffering because mandatory reporters are not sufficiently reporting instances of suspected abuse. Under state law, a mandatory reporter is a person legally required to report suspected abuse or neglect of vulnerable populations, including children, the elderly and people with disabilities.
     

  • 7/3/24 - WCHS Eyewitness News
    Delegate suggests surplus could be used to build new Mildred Mitchell-Bateman Hospital.

    Michael Folio, legal director for Disability Rights of West Virginia, worries that this potential allocation would be misguided. For years, he has called on the state to do something about the "warehousing" of patients in state facilities who could be better served in the community on waiver and community-based programs and save the taxpayers money.
     

  • 6/13/24 - NBC News
    A foster care system in crisis:  West Virginia faces a legal reckoning

    West Virginia faces a legal reckoning. A sweeping class-action lawsuit accusing the state of failing to protect its foster children appears set to go to trial in the fall. The federal suit could force dramatic changes in how the system is run. 
     

  • 5/31/24 - Hoppy Kercheval on X
    Breaking: Sources say Justice Admin is planning for a press conference late next week, possibly Thursday, to release details of its investigation into how State Police and CPS handled the case of a 14-year-old Boone County girl who eventually died and was found in skeletal state.
     

  • 5/29/24 - WOWK 13 News
    A high-ranking member of West Virginia’s foster care system has resigned, and it’s raising concerns about the agency. Pamela Woodman-Kaehler resigned her position as foster care ombudsman in West Virginia, a position she has held since 2019, when the job was first created.

    “She was a champion for children. Sadly however, the leadership of the agency did not give her the support necessary so that she could actually thrive in her position,” said Mike Folio, Legal Director for Disability Rights of West Virginia.
     

  • 5/28/24 - Metro News
    The ombudsman for West Virginia’s overloaded foster care system has resigned, according to the state Department of Health.  Pamela Woodman-Kaehler’s resignation will take effect June 6. 

    The resignation of Pamela Woodman-Kaehler is a sad chapter in DHHR’s and DoHS’ failed history to protect vulnerable children,” said Mike Folio, legal director for Disability Rights West Virginia.
     

  • 5/28/24 - WSAZ News Channel 3
    W.Va. Department of Health official announces resignation.

    Michael Folio, legal director for Disability Rights of West Virginia, released the following statement:
    “The resignation of Pamela Woodman-Kaehler is a sad chapter in DHHR’s and DoHS’ failed history to protect vulnerable children. Sworn testimony exists that shows former DHHR Sec. Bill Crouch and current DoHS Deputy Secretary Cammie Chapman have meddled in the Foster Care Ombudsman’s affairs, directed her to conceal information from the Legislature, and withheld information from her that would have enabled her to conduct investigations to protect the state’s vulnerable children. Pam is a champion for children and her resignation is a sad chapter in the state’s failure to safeguard children.”
     

  • 5/28/24 - West Virginia Public Broadcasting
    Disability Rights West Virginia (DRWV) has filed a lawsuit on behalf of an adult male, referred to as J.P., with developmental disabilities that says he has been physically abused and wrongfully held at William R. Sharpe Hospital for more than 570 days.
     

  • 5/24/24 - WCHS TV 8 Eyewitness News
    There are new developments in the death of a Boone County teenager as a notice of a lawsuit was filed Thursday. Disability Rights WV legal director Mike Folio filed a notice of suit and cease and desist against West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice and Department of Human Services Cabinet Secretary Cynthia Persily in the death of 14-year-old Kyneddi Miller.

    "It's reached the point where there is level of deception, a level of concealment and no one is focused on the young girl who died," Folio said.
     

  • 5/23/24 - WOWK 13 News
    Disability Rights of WV plan to sue Gov. Jim Justice, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, the Department of Human Services and its secretary, Cynthia Persily over the alleged concealment of documents relating to the death of a Boone County child.  

    They allege the governor’s office and the Department of Human Services have held documents about child abuse cases, investigations and findings that are federally mandated to be publicly disclosed to “evade accountability.”
     

  • 5/23/24 - WSAZ News Channel 3
    An advocacy system has put West Virginia officials on notice as it considers a potential lawsuit alleging state officials have violated state law in refusing to disclose records pertaining to the alleged child neglect death of Kyneddi Miller, 14, of Boone County.  

    Disability Rights of West Virginia says it sent the notice Thursday to Gov. Jim Justice, Department of Human Services Secretary Cynthia Persily and Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.
     

  • 5/13/24 - West Virginia Watch
    Patient sues Sharpe Hospital, says he was wrongfully held there for more than 570 days and abused.
     

  • 5/9/24 - 12WBOY
    Disability Rights of West Virginia (DRWV) has filed a civil complaint against Sharpe Hospital, its administrators, the Secretary of the West Virginia Department of Health Facilities and the Secretary of the West Virginia Department of Human Services. 

    The suit, claims that an adult male with a developmental disability was illegally discharged from a group home in Wood County, unlawfully committed to Sharpe Hospital in Lewis County and has been “battered and physically abused.”
     

  • 4/16/24 - 12WBOY
    West Virginia disability rights advocates protest cuts in state budget.

    On Sunday, advocates and families of people with intellectual disabilities rallied at the state capital in Charleston to protest a 10% budget cut to the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) Waiver.

    The IDD Waiver provides financial aid to help families pay for at-home or community-based care for their loved ones with intellectual disabilities instead of having them committed to a state psychiatric hospital. Disability Rights of West Virginia’s Legal Director Michael Folio has called the waiver “a lifeline.”
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  • 4/16/24 - West Virginia Watch
    Lawmakers say Justice admin canceled meeting to discuss man’s gruesome death in state hospital.

    ‘This is a cover up. Plain and simple,’ said Mike Folio, legal director for Disability Rights West Virginia, who was scheduled to speak with lawmakers.
     

  • 4/3/24 - West Virginia Public Broadcasting
    W.Va. Grapples With IDD Waiver Program

    In the final hours of the 2024 regular legislative session, lawmakers passed a budget that cut funding for IDD waivers. “They failed to do the required financial analysis to determine the impact of cutting the IDD waiver budget,” Folio said.
    “We have hundreds of thousands of people in West Virginia that are going to be affected — can you imagine, can you imagine the good work that we did and now we could possibly hurt those folks?” Justice said.
     

  • 3/20/24 - People Magazine
    Elderly Non-Verbal Patient Died After Reportedly Being Left in 134-Degree Whirlpool at Care Facility.

    Four people were reportedly fired in connection with the Jan. 4 incident at Hopemont Hospital in Terra Alta, West Virginia
     

  • 3/18/24 - West Virginia Watch
    ‘His skin melted off’ — Elderly man in state care dies after being left in scalding water.

    Three contract nurses at a state-run hospital were fired after the patient’s death. The incident has raised more concerns about how the state health department vets staff who care for vulnerable individuals.
     

  • 3/14/24 - WOWK 13 News
    Advocates, families want to see more funding towards IDD program following $11 million cut.
     

  • 1/24/24 - Mountain State Spotlight
    People with disabilities are stuck at state hospitals. Lawmakers and patient advocates disagree on where they should go next.
     

  • 1/24/24 - West Virginia Watch
    House committee passes controversial plan to build facility for patients with disabilities.

    Citing “no real solutions,” House lawmakers are moving forward with a plan to build a new facility for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The proposal has been met with sharp criticism from those who advocate for and serve patients with disabilities; they say the bill will further trap individuals in institutions without proper support.
     

  • 1/19/24 - West Virginia Watch
    Teachers need student discipline support. State lawmakers will try to address a complicated issue. 

    School discipline issues have spiked post pandemic, and West Virginia is one of several states that have already enacted stricter punishments for disruptive students. Lawmakers said they’ll be doing much more to address student discipline issues, mostly focusing on protecting teachers and bolstering their ability to remove disruptive students. There’s already legislation that expands last year’s discipline bill into elementary schools.

    Holly Sheldon, a senior advocate with Disability Rights West Virginia, said schools are already failing to follow students’ IEP and behavior intervention plans, resulting in students being unfairly disciplined. “Children with a disability require assessments and services and not discipline, classroom removal or expulsion.  Schools cannot discipline the disability out of a student,” she said.
     

  • 1/18/24 - West Virginia Watch
    What are we waiting for?  Legislators, our child welfare system needs immediate action.

    Do you remember the old Dutch tale about a boy who stuck his finger in a leaking dike to save his country from a great flood? It’s a story about courage and conviction in taking action to prevent the devastation of immediate danger.  We are at a similar juncture with the plight of West Virginia’s child welfare system — and ours is no tale.
     

  • 1/17/24 - West Virginia Watch
    Judge considers ‘proper sanctions’ against state health department over deleted foster care emails.

    ‘You guys really didn’t do that much to protect it,’ a federal judge told health department attorneys and leaders on Wednesday.
     

  • 1/16/24 - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

    Attorneys Seek Sanctions In Delayed Lawsuit Against DHHR.  Attorneys say they have new evidence that shows the now split West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) purposely deleted emails related to a class action lawsuit.

    Plaintiffs in the suit, A Better Childhood, a New York-based nonprofit, along with Shafer and Shafer and Disability Rights West Virginia, recently asked for sanctions in the case due to lack of evidence retention from the defendants.
     

  • 1/10/24 - West Virginia Watch
    Isn’t it time for the West Virginia Legislature to face the truth about Sharpe Hospital?
     
    During the 2023 legislative session, the West Virginia Legislature enacted House Bill 2006 that split the Department of Health and Human Resources into three agencies amid criticism of mismanagement, nonfeasance and retaliation.  The bill required DHHR to create a “long-term sustainability plan for each state health facility” by Dec. 1, 2023.  

    The deadline has passed and DHHR has presented no formal plan to sustain the state’s seven health care facilities — one acute, four long-term care and two psychiatric facilities.
     

  • 1/9/24 - West Virginia Watch
    Older foster kids are turning up in mental hospitals because the state has nowhere to put them.  “I think [the state] failed him. And, they’ve failed me,” a mother said.
     

  • 1/2/24 - West Virginia Watch
    State health department’s top attorney retires amid ties to deleted foster care email scandal. The department is facing sanctions over missing emails from former officials in an ongoing lawsuit about the treatment of foster kids.
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  • 12/22/23 - West Virginia Watch
    WVU paid more than $230K for Coben to fly on private jet to Charleston for governor-appointed job.
     

  • 12/19/23 - The Parkersburg New and Sentinel
    Hearing set for sanctions motion in West Virginia foster care lawsuit.
     

  • 12/18/23 - WV Metro News
    Magistrate judge orders a hearing over purged emails in foster care lawsuit.  The federal magistrate judge plans to hear more about a request for sanctions over conditions in the foster care system.
     

  • 12/14/23 - West Virginia Watch
    Former DHHR attorney backs up claim department ‘intentionally’ deleted emails in foster care suit.
    Attorneys who brought the lawsuit on behalf of foster children say the deletion of evidence ‘was not merely reckless but was intentional.’
     

  • 12/14/23 - Mountain State Spotlight
    Officials say sweeping changes are needed to prevent institutionalization of West Virginians with disabilities. Lawmakers will strongly consider increasing pay for workers who help West Virginians with intellectual disabilities live more independently, but a legislative study recommends a broader range of reforms also be implemented.
     

  • 12/12/23 - West Virginia Watch
    Weeks away from DHHR split deadline, lawmakers worry not enough is changing.  State lawmakers pushed to split the behemoth DHHR, but the implementation appears to some as more ‘bloated bureaucracy’
     

  • 12/10/23 - Mountain State Spotlight
    As officials delay, more West Virginians with disabilities are being confined to mental hospitals. For at least two years, disability rights advocates have warned that the state was indefinitely institutionalizing people in state-owned psychiatric hospitals. Despite outcry, lawmakers have been slow to act.
     

  • 11/17/23 - West Virginia Watch
    DHHR leaders say they’ll change staff vetting after multiple contract employees arrested.  Multiple employees at a state-run psychiatric hospital have been recently arrested for crimes, including murders that occurred off-site.
     

  • 11/15/23 - West Virginia Watch
    Multiple employees at a state-run hospital have been charged with crimes this year. The charges, which include murders, have raised concerns about the employee screening process at Sharpe Hospital in Weston.
     

  • 11/1/23 - West Virginia Watch
    Mother seeks answers as son with autism trapped and injured in troubled state psychiatric hospital. Sharpe hospital was never meant to house patients long term. JP, a 33-year-old mostly nonverbal man, has been there for more than a year as the state doesn’t have enough community placement.
     

  • 10/10/23 - West Virginia Watch
    Women at Sharpe complained about employee before he was charged with patient sex crimes.  It’s the latest problem to surface at the troubled state-run psychiatric facility, which for years has faced scrutiny for its patient treatment and staffing issues.
     

  • 9/11/23 - West Virginia Watch
    Patients continue to linger in state psychiatric hospital without treatment plans, inspection shows. Lawmakers have heard for years about problems at William R. Sharpe, Jr. Hospital, a psychiatric facility under state operation. They recently toured the hospital, but Disability Rights West Virginia said it’s hardly a response to the crisis.
     

  • 5/7/23 - WV News
    West Virginia DHHR working on plans to keep disabled out of state hospitals
     

  • 3/8/23 - The Parkersburg New and Sentinel
    Bill to study IDD in criminal justice system passes West Virginia Senate
     

  • 3/6/23 - The Register Herald
    People with disabilities in Beckley forced to use the bathroom in buckets and outside, inspections show
     

  • 2/13/23 - The State Journal
    Advocates: Home care service shortages and issues place West Virginians at risk
     

  • 2/13/23 - 100 Days in Appalachia (Erin Beck)
    For This W.Va. family, legislative attention on ‘warehousing’ people with intellectual disabilities at state hospitals is too late
     

  • 2/7/23 - The Parkersburg News and Sentinel
    Bill to study IDD in criminal justice system passed West Virginia Senate
     

  • 1/20/23 - The Register Herald
    Whistleblowers protection bill follows alleged mistreatment of disabled people in state care
     

  • 12/28/22 - The Parkersburg New and Sentinel
    W.Va. Public Broadcasting reporter released after DHHR pressure
     

  • 12/19/22 - From Common Dreams.org
    West Virginia journalist fired in alleged retaliation over reporting on abuse in state facilities
     

  • 12/19/22 - The Parkersburg New and Sentinel
    Cold Shoulder: Disability rights group details strained relationship with West Virginia DHHR’s Crouch
     

  • 12/17/22 - The Weirton Daily Times
    DHHR’s Crouch puts pressure on disability rights group
     

  • 12/8/22 - WV Press Association
    WV Legislative Interims: Committee on Health hears testimony on the federal investigation into the WVDHHR
     

  • 12/6/22 - WV Metro News
    As feds investigate state-run facilities, advocate tells lawmakers of ‘vicious cycle of institutionalization’
     

  • 12/6/22 - Articles/news about Mike Folio (DRWV Legal Director):

    https://www.wvnews.com/news/wvnews/attorney-dhhr-breaking-promises-to-west-virginians-with-disabilities/article_357e35e4-75af-11ed-add5-57237fcedaba.amp.html

    https://www.wsaz.com/2022/12/06/former-wva-dhhr-attorney-blasts-agency/?outputType=amp

    https://www.wvpublic.org/government/2022-12-06/advocate-brings-transparency-concerns-about-treatment-of-people-with-disabilities-to-lawmakers
     

  • 12/5/22 - WV Public Broadcasting
    New federal investigation targets DHHR’s treatment of people with disabilities
     

  • 12/2/22 - WV News
    WVDHHR under federal civil rights investigation
     

  • 11/13/22 Joint Committee
    DRWV Legal Director, Mike Folio, mentioned
     

  • 11/11/22 - WV Metro News
    Disability Rights organization asks lawmakers to scrutinize review of DHHR
     

  • 11/3/22 - WV Public Broadcasting
    Mike Folio (DRWV Legal Director) Interview
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