(Photo by Brett Dunlap) West Virginia Children’s Home Society Director of Programming Denise Hughes appeared before the Wood County Commission on Monday to get its support to apply for a $975,000 Momentum Grant from the West Virginia First Foundation to help with foster care program.

PARKERSBURG — The Wood County Commission is providing support to the Children’s Home Society of West Virginia to apply for a grant to help with foster care programs as well as providing some financial support to the organization.

The commission is providing a letter of support to the organization so they can apply to the West Virginia First Foundation for a $975,000 Momentum Grant to help with the society’s statewide foster care program. The West Virginia First Foundation provides grants and other funding to various organizations from settlement money the state received as part of opioid litigation.

“Foster care statewide is in a huge deficit across all agencies, not just Children’s Home Society,” said West Virginia Children’s Home Society Director of Programming Denise Hughes. “We are all struggling to find foster families, train them and do the things we need to do with them.”

There are currently just under 6,000 children in the foster care system, including children who have been placed with relatives, Hughes said. There are some children who are placed in hotels waiting for foster homes to become available.

“We have a very strong vetting process for foster parents to make sure they don’t have a criminal record or substance abuse issues,” Hughes said.

A number of kids in the foster care system are there because of a parent with substance abuse issues, officials said.

Commission President Blair Couch said the West Virginia Children’s Home Society has been impacted more than anyone else by the state’s opioid crisis.

“More so than a lot of people,” he said. “There is a constant need for funding.”

Foster parents are screened and asked what age ranges they can handle with Hughes saying they want to make sure the foster parent can handle what is being asked of them and not to be over-burdened.

Hughes said the most they will allow is six children including the family’s biological children.

“We try to keep siblings together,” Hughes said. “We have some good stories.”

A number of adoptions have happened once the proper approvals are given if the original parental rights were terminated through the courts.

The Children’s Home Society of West Virginia facility in Parkersburg serves 13 counties surrounding Wood County. The commission approved $30,000 for the local facility in the former Worthington School to help with their programming from the allotment of opioid funds the county received.

“We want you to go forth and do good work with it,” Couch said.