West Virginia’s Department of Human Services has its work cut out for it as it attempts to respond to a federal audit of Child Protective Services, but there seems to be a good plan in place.

Department Secretary Alex Mayer told the Legislative Oversight Commission on Health and Human Resource Accountability his agency takes seriously the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General report on West Virginia’s compliance with child abuse and neglect requirements.

“These are children’s lives, families’ futures, and the credibility of state government,” Mayer said. “What the audit did do was validate the steps we were already taking, the issues we identified, and the approaches to address what was outlined in the report. Simply, this was a deep, sustained, system-

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