Discover video-sourced quotes by politicians

Patrick Morrisey: “The state has failed a lot of the children that are in the…”

Featuring: Patrick Morrisey, Republican | Governor of West Virginia

Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform

Published December 16, 2025 | Video Starts at 00:28

Now, as has been widely reported, this has been a issue that's plagued the state for a very, very long time. And in the past, we've talked about the fact that The state has failed a lot of the children that are in the care of the state. To me, that's unacceptable. And that's why we've been diligently working over the last year to try to make some improvements. And so I think we're making progress. (00:28–00:33)

CLAIM

Asserts that the state has inadequately cared for children in its custody.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

Discover more from

Patrick Morrisey

“This year we've reduced the CPS backlog by over 50% statewide.”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 04:02-04:09
“Substance use related removals have been reduced by 37% and that's the lowest level since 2007.”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 05:07-05:16
“I'm told they average about 156,000 or so.”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 09:12-09:16
“There are a lot of kids that are out of state. I believe that's a terrible problem.”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 00:58-01:03
“Back in May, we came before you and we talked about six sweeping reforms that were taking place within the child welfare system.”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 01:52-02:02
“We've seen the number of children in placement drop going from 6,148 to a little bit under 6,000.”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 04:26-04:36
“There were 1100 adoptions completed this year.”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 05:39-05:43
“In November alone, a lot of that focus helped reduce over $300,000 in improper payments.”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 06:20-06:29
“West Virginia has been sending too many of our kids out of state to receive care that they should get right here at home.”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 08:00-08:10
“These placements are very costly and they separate children from their families, their communities and ultimately it could lead to longer…”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 08:09-08:20
“Right now there's some numbers that we're seeing about 380 on the out of state side.”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 09:06-09:12
“We want to create a new revolving investment fund in order to make sure we're building out some of the existing state owned facilities.”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 09:26-09:36
“Those dollars are going to be used to renovate repair existing state properties by providing high acuity, psychiatric, neurodevelopmental…”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 09:36-09:53
“We think we can actually save money as a result and then we can reinvest it back into the program with the goal of eventually eliminating…”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 10:08-10:19
“The system's far from perfect, but we do know we're making progress and it's stronger than where it was just one year ago.”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 10:52-11:01
“We have the ability to continue to reduce removals, to stabilize placements, and to strengthen the fiscal integrity of all of these…”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 11:08-11:19
“We know that we're paying a lot more every time we send kids out of state.”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 17:08-17:12
“If you look at that number, 156,000, if you could bring them in, at least some portion of them initially, let's say you could save 10% of…”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 17:12-17:24
“Right now we're looking at approximately $6 million as a starting point that's going to allow us to rehab and renovate and be very helpful.”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 18:35-18:44
“There has been a new era of transparency that we've provided so much more information than what people have seen in the past.”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 19:54-20:02
“We have a dashboard. We have a lot of information we're trying to get out there.”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 20:02-20:07
“We changed some of the programs earlier this year to facilitate additional release of information.”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 20:15-20:21
“There's always going to be an effort to recruit out of state specialists and to grow the capacity of our provider network.”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 22:32-22:41
“We have a very aggressive plan separately for a rural health transformation fund where we submitted our application a while back.”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 22:44-22:53
“If we think that the federal dollars can help the state of West Virginia, we're not only going to use them, we're going to try to spend…”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 24:26-24:35
“Fentanyl is a very dangerous substance. Illicit fentanyl, I should say, very dangerous substance.”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 25:29-25:35
“President Trump's announcement really goes after some of the supply, and I applaud it.”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 26:08-26:14
“I always challenge our team to be able to look and to have the best possible technological tools that are available.”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 27:22-27:31
“We're always going to be looking to improve the tools. And if there have been problems with some of the systems in the past, they usually…”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 28:10-28:20
“There's a lot more work that needs to be done with respect to CPS and foster care and you should expect a lot of collaboration with the…”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 29:34-29:44
“We're doing a lot here in West Virginia to lead to not only not have sodas an entitlement under SNAP, but we're trying to get a lot of the…”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 31:42-32:00
“Through our rural health application, there's going to be a whole section of focus on the types of foods that people are eating, how people…”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 31:59-32:13
“In order for us to secure the federal resources through the Rural Health Fund, you actually have to have measures, accountability of what…”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey Holds Press Briefing On West Virginia Foster Care Reform | Uploaded December 16, 2025 | 32:16-32:25