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April 4, 2006

West Virginia Court System Issues Child Abuse and Neglect Rules

     Charleston, W.Va. - - The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals voted unanimously to adopt changes and additions to the legal rules governing child abuse and neglect proceedings in West Virginia on March 15, 2006.  The changes were recommended by the federally-funded Court Improvement Oversight Board (CIB) in August, 2005, and will go into effect June 1, 2006. 

     According to West Virginia’s Chief Justice Robin Jean Davis, the rule changes are a necessity because of gaps in services between the work of the Family Courts and the Circuit Courts.  Having declared 2006 “The Year of the Child” for West Virginia’s Courts, Chief Justice Davis said, “We have acknowledged the problem and taken great strides to close every potential loophole.”

    The CIB recommended a total of 16 new and amended court rules.  One new rule came about in light of issues arising from a case that was before the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals during its fall 2005 term.  The case questioned which court – Family or Circuit – had authority to impose a child support obligation where the child was the subject of both a Family Court case and a child abuse and neglect proceeding.  The Court decided that the Circuit Court dealing with the custody and decision-making responsibility for the child as the result of an abuse or neglect petition has this authority.  Now, under the new rules, where an Order is issued in an abuse and neglect proceeding that changes the custodial and decision-making responsibility for the affected child, or puts the child in the DHHR custody, it must also impose a support obligation on one or both parents for support, maintenance and education of the child. 

     The rule changes should also make positive changes such as effectuating expedited investigations conducted by the Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) into child abuse suspected and reported by the Family Court.  Also, the rules allow for abuse and neglect matters to be heard in Circuit Court instead of Family Court when necessary.

     As to the impact the rule changes and amendments will have on the West Virginia Court system, Administrative Director Steven Canterbury said, “This is simply more of our theme of accountability.  We found an area where there were gaps in coverage regarding our children and remedied the problem.”

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     To view the complete list of rules please visit the Supreme Court website at:

  http://www.state.wv.us/wvsca/rules/FamCtRules.htm