Erica Peterson

Industrial plants in Birmingham, Alabama — including one now owned by WV Gov. Jim Justice’s family — have polluted the air and land in its historic Black communities for over a century.

You heard it here first: Mountain State Spotlight absolutely has an agenda for covering the legislative session. Usually, “having an agenda” is a term wielded as a weapon: an accusation of bias, of pushing a particular ideology. That’s not what I’m talking about here. Our agenda is simply that we want to bring West Virginians […]

In West Virginia, a large number of races on county primary ballots only include one candidate.

West Virginia’s child welfare systems have long struggled with adequate staffing, inaction and lack of transparency

The agreement between the Department of Justice and the state Department of Human Services was set to expire last month, but was quietly extended.

A little-known database answered some of our questions about West Virginia’s foster care system.

An analysis by Mountain State Spotlight found foster kids with disabilities were being sent to group care at a rate three times the national average.

A lack of West Virginia CPS workers directly feeds a lack of foster homes and the instability and lack of permanency many kids face in the system.

The state has failed to spend nearly $7 million to help kids pay rent, go to college and access other services to help them succeed.

West Virginia continues taking Social Security survivors’ benefits from orphaned foster children to fund foster care.