West Virginia Code 49-9-104 – Access to records
(a) The Foster Care Ombudsman is allowed access to any foster child‘s, foster parents’ or kinship parents’ records, including medical records reasonably necessary to any investigation, without fee.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 49-9-104
- child: means an individual who meets one of the following conditions:
(A) Is under thirteen years of age. See West Virginia Code 49-1-202
- Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
- Facility: means a place or residence, including personnel, structures, grounds, and equipment used for the care of a child or children on a residential or other basis for any number of hours a day in any shelter or structure maintained for that purpose. See West Virginia Code 49-1-206
- Foster family home: means a private residence which is used for the care on a residential basis of no more than six children who are unrelated, by blood, marriage, or adoption, to any adult member of the household. See West Virginia Code 49-1-206
- State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
(b) The Foster Care Ombudsman is allowed access to all records of any foster family home, state agency, child-placing agency, or residential care facility that is reasonably necessary for the investigation of a complaint, including, but not limited to, incident reports; dietary records; policies and procedures that a foster family home, a state agency, a child-placing agency, or a residential care facility are required to maintain under federal or state law; admission agreements; staffing schedules; or any document depicting the actual staffing pattern.