West Virginia’s child welfare system is spending millions to ship foster kids out of state while investigations fail at home, oversight breaks down, and children end up in crisis placements. This report lays out the documented pattern.

A three-year-old in West Virginia, known to elope, was placed in a foster home about 30 yards from the Little Kanawha River with no alarms or barrier. CPS certified the placement, the contractor approved it, and the child drowned. Read the documents and the timeline.