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Helping Youthful Victims of Crisis

For years, West Virginians have been making slow but steady progress in making life better for our children. Infant mortality is down. The percentage of children living in poverty has been reduced. More are completing high school.

Then, along came the drug abuse epidemic. Child abuse and neglect have increased. The number of children authorities have to remove from homes has skyrocketed.

About 85 percent of child abuse and neglect situations in our state are linked to drug abuse. More than 2,000 children have to be taken from their homes every year for that reason.

Our ability to take care of children whose parents can’t — or won’t — has been strained to the breaking point. There were about 6,500 Mountain State children in foster care last year. Only about 1,350 foster homes are available for them.

The situation has gotten so bad that, earlier this year, state Department of Health and Human Resources Secretary Bill Crouch warned West Virginia might be sued by the U.S. Department of Justice. Federal officials apparently believe the DHHR is taking too many children out of their homes and does not have adequate programs in place to take care of them.

One wonders whether the federal bureaucrats, comfortably insulated in their Washington offices, are completely unaware of the tragedy occurring in our state. At least 1,011 people died of drug overdoses in West Virginia last year.

It is to be hoped someone in the justice department comes to his or her senses and drops plans for any lawsuit — instead finding ways to help, rather than hamper, our efforts to help the children.

Meanwhile, we in the Mountain State are struggling to find answers by ourselves.

From 4:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, a roundtable discussion on children and the opioid crisis will be held at the YWCA in Wheeling (1100 Chapline Street). It will bring together a distinguished panel of people who understand the challenge all too well. Input from members of the public is being sought.

Three similar events are to be held at other locations in West Virginia during the next two months.

Let us hope the roundtable events can provide some new ideas on how to safeguard our children — who are entirely innocent victims of drug abuse.

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