Gov. Jim Justice praised the state’s departing ombudsman for the foster care system and dismissed concerns about her resignation.
The resignation of Pamela Woodman-Kaehler drew praise from close observers for her work at the center of heartbreaking situations and sensitive circumstances — and her departure also raised concerns about whether the ombudsman has had full autonomy to perform that work without undue interference.
The governor said the concerns have been overhyped.
“I don’t know of any problem whatsoever,” Justice said in a briefing on Wednesday.
“You’ll never in 10 million years find a piece of paper or anything where Jim Justice has told anybody not to say anything, to hide this, to do this and everything. That’s absolutely so frivolous and crazy it’s off the chart. But then what the media does is run through the jungle screaming and hollering and everything that there’s a problem here, problem here, problem here.”
State officials this week confirmed the resignation of Woodman-Kaehler, who was named the state’s first official advocate for foster children and families in 2019.
The ombudsman position is meant to support the needs of the many West Virginia families taking in children. A dashboard for West Virginia’s child welfare system shows that more than 6,000 children are in state custody.
Woodman-Kaehler’s resignation will take effect June 6. Elizabeth Hardy will serve as the acting office director for the foster care ombudsman in her place.
Woodman-Kaehler said in a statement released by the state Department of Health that she is leaving for another position.
“It has been an incredible honor and pleasure to serve the citizens of West Virginia as the state’s first foster care ombudsman. I am choosing to pursue a new opportunity, but the program is exceptionally well positioned to serve our foster care system,” Woodman-Kaehler said in a statement drawn from her resignation letter.
The governor, in a briefing Wednesday, pushed back on concerns that interference played a role in the ombudsman’s departure.
“This business of attacking people and everything and, you know, just digging into everything coming and going — if she’s telling us she got a better job, why don’t we celebrate that? Really and truly, basically we’re indicating there’s a problem or maybe she didn’t do something right or someone else didn’t do something right and everything,” he said in response to a media question.
The state’s human services agency is being sued over the state’s handling of children in foster care. The foster care lawsuit was filed in 2019 — the same year the ombudsman position was created — on behalf of thousands of children by A Better Childhood, a national child advocacy organization, Disability Rights West Virginia and Shaffer and Shaffer, a West Virginia law firm.
A recently released transcript of a deposition of Jeremiah Samples, former deputy director of the Department of Health and Human Resources and now senior adviser for the West Virginia Legislature, spotlighted questions about whether the ombudsman has been able to fulfill that advocacy work without interference.
Samples expanded on the conflict-of-interest concern by saying, “initially there were discussions about pressure that the ombudsman was experiencing from the department in talking to the legislature about child welfare issues, reviewing reports and wanting certain information withheld, and just generally being able to gain access to information from the department.”
He then described conflicts with then-Secretary Bill Crouch and Cammie Chapman, formerly associate general counsel and now deputy secretary of children and adult services.
“It was stated to me that Secretary Crouch at one point had met with the ombudsman and applied pressure about discussions that she may or may not want to have with the legislature. And it had been indicated that my name had been brought up, to be very careful about conversations that she had with me, specifically in my work at the legislature. ‘There were concerns presented about discussions with Ms. Chapman not wanting information released from the ombudsman.”
Justice, in response to questions from reporters, pointed his comments at Samples, named him repeatedly, described a toxic relationship between Samples and Crouch, characterized Samples as actively spreading pernicious information around the Capitol and asked why Samples hadn’t fixed the many problems with human services during his years at the agency.
Kelli Caseman, executive director of Think Kids WV, took issue with the governor’s characterization.
“Do I think Pamela left simply because she got another job? No, I don’t. Around four years ago, Pam told legislators that around 90% of the people who contacted her office lived in fear of retaliation by the state system. Fear of retaliation, and prevalent transparency issues, would lead any government personnel to leave quietly, and I don’t blame her,” Caseman said in response to the remarks made during the governor’s briefing.
“Just look at how the governor spoke about former WVDHHR employee, Jeremiah Samples, during the same briefing. He took what Jeremiah said under oath and framed it as if he were a disgruntled employee, disparaging his employer to legislators. And so, I don’t blame Pamela for trying to leave with a best foot forward. Look at what happens when you tell the truth.”
