In recent years, one of the most important weapons in the fight against child abuse and neglect, and also for building family resilience and strength, has been family support centers. Throughout the state on the county level, these centers have each evolved along different pathways to tailor services to families facing strong challenges in communities.
Now those same centers have been left in limbo with their promised funding not in place and no certain answers for the future.
The West Virginia State Legislature fully funded the TANF program, known in the Mountain State as WV WORKS. Through that comes the support for Family Support Centers. The West Virginia Department of Human Services describes them as “warm and welcoming places in the community where any family member with children up to age 18 or pregnant families can go, not only in times of need, but as a regular part of day-to-day life.
It further describes their mission as both “providing concrete support in times of need” and also enhancing “protective factors such as parental knowledge, resilience, social connections, and emotional competence.” Family support centers work to both help with immediate needs while also building the family’s capabilities to the point where they no longer need that kind of support.
Tina Persinger directs the Calhoun Family Support Center based in Grantsville, but serving the entire county. She explained that last spring, the expected announcement of the funding that supports their operation had not yet come. Inquiries made to the proper officials got no reply of yay or nay and the centers were left with no information as to their funding or their very future with the end of the fiscal year coming on June 30.
As time continued to pass, “We reached out to a lot of legislators” because they passed the funding in the budget. “They started asking questions, making calls to the DOHS, the Governor’s Office, and got no communication.”
Last week, the State Legislature met for an interim session. At about the same time, the FSCs received word that, as Persinger stated “you have been granted a fifth quarter.” In essence, it extended the fiscal 2026 appropriation through another three months into fiscal year 2027. Money would be granted to keep the FSCs running through Sept 30 and all of the funding had to be spent by that point.
FSC directors and staff converged on the interim meetings to make their case. They all worked to engage with legislators to tell their story in ways that emphasized the impact both individually for children and collectively for the community.
Persinger noted that many legislators were not clear on the difference between a family support center and a family resource network. Both have similar names and work together closely, but have different purposes.
She explained to them that “both . . . need to be funded. This is not a duplication of service.”
West Virginia Code 49-1-206 defines family resource networks specifically. It states that the organization “has agreed to engage in activities to improve service systems for children and families within the community.” The law defines who may and may not work with an FRN, but clearly and unambiguously states “a family resource network may not provide direct services . . . directly to children and families.”
Persinger described the role of an FRN as focusing on community surveys, planning, establishing “a collaborative hub” for use of data gathered. In military terms, the FRN collects intelligence and works on strategies and planning.
A family support center picks up where an FRN has to legally leave off. It serves as the “tactical” organization, taking the information gathered about that community and tailoring programs to fit specific needs. Each FSC has the latitude to use that information and conduct its own research to create programs that the community needs most.
Another comparison would be the separation of purpose between a “planning grant” and a separate grant intended for implementation of the plan.
Without funding past the “fifth quarter,” likely communities would lose their FSCs. Persinger explained that the consequences for Calhoun would be “devastating. We are one of the only service organizations here that will help families.” She added that “no one in Calhoun” offers the same programs and services as the Calhoun Family Support Center does and that more populated areas have more resources to offer should FSCs disappear.
Persinger shared that data indicates FSCs have a salutary budgetary effect. These organizations represent a point at which severely challenged families can get the kind of help they need before problems rise to the level of a CPS case, removal into foster care, or involvement with the juvenile or adult justice systems.
With each of these entities overloaded, overwhelmed, and also funded below their needs, organizations such as family support centers provide triage, support, and pathways of growth toward good function and resilience.
In a time of constructing budgets, it is still true that sometimes a penny invested today can prevent a dollar lost tomorrow. Family support centers impact thousands of lives across West Virginia every single day, but they also save millions in costs deferred because they help families learn to first survive, then to thrive.
