Department of Health, Department of Health Facilities, and Department of Human Services

​West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) Cabinet Secretary Karen L. Bowling today announced the selection of licensed behavioral health providers to act as local coordinating agencies for the Bureau for Children and Families’ (BCF) Safe at Home West Virginia demonstration project, which will launch October 1, 2015.

The grants will provide funds to support the initial development of wraparound programs and were awarded to Burlington Family Services; Braley and Thompson, Inc.; Children’s Home Society; KVC Behavioral Healthcare of WV; National Youth Advocate Program; NECCO; Pressley Ridge; and Prestera.

“We are encouraged by the selected agencies’ partnership in our efforts to ensure children have the opportunity for safe, healthy and successful lives in their home communities,” said Bowling. “These providers have trained facilitators on board and have demonstrated commitment to working with our staff in the Safe at Home phase one target areas.”

The goal of Safe at Home West Virginia, reducing the state’s reliance on in-state and out-of-state group care for youth ages 12-17,  will be accomplished using the wraparound model, a planning process that helps ensure youth grow up in their homes and communities when safely possible. With help from one or more wraparound facilitators, key players in the child or youth’s family work together, coordinate activities, and blend perspectives of the family’s situation. DHHR will develop community services specifically targeted at youths’ needs, while also addressing comprehensive needs of the family.

The selected local coordinating agencies are tasked with hiring wraparound facilitators responsible for coordinating the individualized services identified for each youth and their family in their homes. Local coordinating agencies are also tasked with providing those services or securing them from other sources.

BCF Commissioner Nancy Exline said, “It has been an absolute pleasure watching these public/private partnerships unfold.  I look forward to the exciting days ahead with Safe at Home West Virginia and the opportunity that we have to change the way we work together as communities to support our youth and families in their homes.”

Stephen R. Tuck, CEO of the Children’s Home Society of West Virginia, agrees: “The Children’s Home Society welcomes the opportunity to be a part of this collaborative effort while furthering our own mission to promote the well-being of all children.  The Society encourages our community members, our churches, schools, civic groups and businesses to join with us to ensure every child has the opportunity to be “Safe at Home” with their families, in their own communities.” 

Phase one of Safe at Home West Virginia encompasses Berkeley, Boone, Cabell, Jefferson, Kanawha, Lincoln, Logan, Mason, Morgan, Putnam and Wayne counties. The long-term goal of Safe at Home West Virginia is to serve 12-17 year olds and their families in all 55 counties over the course of the next two years, providing wraparound services to children, family members, caregivers and foster parents to support developing and maintaining a stable and loving environment so they can be safe, healthy and successful in their own homes.

Learn more at www.wvdhhr.org/bcf/safe/.