Background
In August 2024, the West Virginia Department of Human Services filed an abuse and neglect petition in the Circuit Court of Monongalia County against W.B., the former stepfather of two of the children and biological father of the other two. The petition alleged that W.B. sexually abused his then-teenage former stepdaughter V.A.-B. from 2020 until he left the home in October 2023, committed repeated acts of domestic violence against the mother in the children’s presence—including threatening to slit her throat—and used excessive physical punishment on the children, such as hitting them on the head and forcing them to exercise while he struck them. All four children participated in forensic interviews at a Child Advocacy Center, during which they disclosed these abuses.
At an adjudicatory hearing in January 2025, forensic interviewers testified to the children’s disclosures, recordings of all four interviews were admitted into evidence, and a State Police trooper testified about her investigation. W.B. admitted to committing domestic violence in the children’s presence but denied the excessive physical punishment allegations and offered no testimony regarding the sexual abuse. The circuit court found that W.B. had exposed the children to domestic violence, used excessive physical punishment, and sexually abused V.A.-B., adjudicating him as an abusing parent. The court further found that the sexual abuse constituted aggravated circumstances.
At a dispositional hearing in July 2025, a Child Protective Services worker testified that the sexual abuse and significant history of domestic violence meant no services could remedy the conditions of abuse and that termination was in the children’s best interests. W.B. testified that he had received VA services for substance abuse and PTSD between 2020 and 2023 and completed anger management following a 2022 domestic battery conviction. He moved for a less restrictive disposition under West Virginia Code § 49-4-604(c)(5) rather than termination. The circuit court rejected that request and entered an order terminating his parental and custodial rights to all four children.
The Court’s Holding
The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia affirmed the circuit court’s August 8, 2025, dispositional order in a unanimous memorandum decision. The court held that the circuit court did not err in terminating W.B.’s parental and custodial rights without first imposing less restrictive alternatives. Under established West Virginia precedent, parental rights may be terminated without resort to intervening alternatives when there is no reasonable likelihood that conditions of abuse can be substantially corrected. The aggravated-circumstances finding based on the sexual abuse of V.A.-B. relieved the DHS of any obligation to make reasonable efforts to preserve the family under West Virginia Code § 49-4-604(c)(7).
The court rejected W.B.’s argument that the circuit court was required to consider whether he could benefit from additional services. Although W.B. had participated in pre-petition services through the VA and completed anger management, those services were in place during the very period in which he was found to have committed the abusive conduct and were unrelated to the sexual abuse allegations. His participation in those services therefore provided no basis to conclude he could substantially correct the conditions of abuse in the near future.
The court also noted that W.B.’s requested disposition under § 49-4-604(c)(5) was inapplicable as a matter of law to the circumstances of V.P. and A.B., who were placed with their nonabusing mother rather than temporarily with a guardian or the DHS—the only scenario that provision covers. Because W.B. did not challenge the circuit court’s finding that termination was in the children’s best interests, that finding stood independently as grounds for affirmance.
Key Takeaways
- An adjudicatory finding of aggravated circumstances based on sexual abuse eliminates the DHS’s obligation to make reasonable efforts to preserve the family, clearing the way for termination without less restrictive alternatives.
- Pre-petition participation in services does not defeat a no-reasonable-likelihood finding when those services were ongoing during the period of abuse and were unrelated to the specific abusive conduct at issue.
- West Virginia Code § 49-4-604(c)(5), the less-restrictive dispositional alternative, is unavailable where the subject children are placed with a nonabusing parent rather than with a guardian or the DHS.
- An unchallenged best-interests finding independently supports termination of parental rights.
Why It Matters
This decision reinforces the limited circumstances in which West Virginia courts must consider less restrictive alternatives before terminating parental rights. Where a parent has been found to have sexually abused a child and that abuse constitutes aggravated circumstances, the state’s reunification obligations are extinguished and termination may follow upon a best-interests finding alone. Practitioners representing parents in abuse and neglect proceedings should take note that prior engagement with services—even through programs like the VA—will carry little weight when those services coincided with, rather than preceded, the abusive conduct and did not address the core allegations.
The decision also clarifies the narrow scope of the § 49-4-604(c)(5) dispositional option, confirming that it is not available as an alternative to termination when children are already safely placed with a nonabusing parent. This limits a significant avenue for parents seeking to avoid outright termination in cases where one parent has been exonerated and retains custody.