BOONE COUNTY, WV (WOWK) – West Virginia state officials announced in a briefing that the Department of Human Services and CPS workers will need to be more firm in keeping to formal referral policies after questions arose regarding a 14-year-old Boone County girl found dead and emaciated in April.
According to West Virginia Governor Jim Justice’s Chief of Staff Brian Abraham, two West Virginia State Police troopers doing a well visit on Kyneddi Miller in March 2023 found the girl well-nourished and in good health with no signs of abuse or neglect. One of the troopers was concerned, however, about her fear of COVID-19 given her young age.
Miller didn’t want to be around others because of fear of COVID, Abraham says
Abraham says he went to the CPS office to let them know of Kyneddi’s fear to see if there was any way they could connect her with someone to talk with. However, because there was no concern over abuse and neglect, he did this informally, and without calling the centralized intake 800 number. Therefore, there was no report, and no follow-up.
Cynthia Persily, Secretary of the DoHS says they are taking steps to make sure this doesn’t happen again. She says in the future, any informal report will trigger an automatic call to the abuse and neglect hotline.
DoHS says no record WVSP’s CPS referral of Kyneddi Miller
In the briefing, Persily said the person wanting to make a report will be given the number to call, or in some cases, the workers can even dial the number and take the person to a private room at the office to make the call to the hotline.
“If anyone should visit a DHHR office in person to make a complaint or a referral related to abuse and neglect, we will immediately refer them to the 800 line – the centralized intake line. Or we will offer to dial that line for them, place them in a private room, and they can make the report directly from the DHHR office,” Persily said.
The change is effective immediately. The number to call is 1-800-352-6513.
Persily also says the office has been working on a way to better filter referral calls. She says right now it falls under cases that do meet abuse and neglect statutes, and cases that don’t. According to Persily, the DoHS is working to add a third category to their system for cases where there is not abuse and neglect, but the family could use support from some of the DoHS’s other services.
Abraham did state that because Kyneddi appeared well in March 2023, there was no concern of abuse and neglect. Any information on what happened to Kyneddi between March 2023 and April 2024 would be part of the criminal investigation into her mother and grandparents. That case is in the Boone County court system, and state officials say they have no part in it or knowledge of what is happening with the case.