CHARLESTON, W.Va. –Kanawha County Judge Maryclaire Akers says her decision to appoint a monitor to the Department of Human Services at Friday’s hearing was because housing children in hotels and 4-H camps is not safe and needs to be stopped.

Judge Maryclaire Akers

“It is supposed to be temporary, it is born out of necessity and emergency, I think everyone agrees, even Secretary Mayer agrees that this is not ideal,” Akers said on MetroNews Talkline Monday morning.

Akers proposed to have, Cindy Largent-Hill the director of Division of Children Services with the WV Supreme Court of Appeals, come in and act as a monitor to see what the department can do better in order to improve the situation. DoHS Cabinet Secretary Alex Mayer agreed to the appointment on Friday

The order, that was filed after the hearing, stated Largent-Hill will be given everything the department has on the temporary housing of children in hotels, camps and any other unlicensed facilities. She would review reports and meet with the department and any necessary stakeholders in order to help them. And she’ll have to give reports to Akers on what she finds.

“But I can say that’s what the order says and that’s what we’re planning to do,” Akers said.

This comes after Akers issued an administrative order, last Monday, for DoHS Cabinet Secretary Alex Mayer to come before her at a Friday hearing and discuss the safety of these placements, after a 12-year-old boy attempted suicide while staying in a hotel on February 18.

On February 21, she had a case review hearing in court, and she said that she didn’t know about the incident during that hearing.

“And at that time, I was not notified of that, my CPS worker in my courtroom didn’t know about it, my guardian ad-litem didn’t know about it, so they could not communicate it to me,” Akers said. “That is what started that, the guardian ad-litem told me, maybe a day or two later when she learned about it, which also led to her telling me about the hotels and 4-H camps.”

She did say that other judges along with herself, anecdotally knew about children being placed into hotels and camps but never received a court summary or official report stating that these kids were being placed in hotels or camps.

During the hearing on Friday and during her time on Talkline, Akers said that she didn’t want to put blame on anyone because it wouldn’t have done anything to solve the issue.

“It really was not my intent to place blame on anybody, I don’t see how that would be helpful to fix anything anyway,” she said. “I can yell at people all day, if nothing good comes from that, then what’s the point.”

Akers said that the hearing was really to try and get some answers to questions that she had and to come up with a solution because she needs to make sure that wherever these kids are being placed is in the best interest of the child.

“But my job as a judge and what all the cases say, the child’s best interest is the polar star, that’s what’s supposed to guide me in my decision, and it is one of the findings that I have to make is that the placements of where these kids are, are safe and appropriate. So, if I don’t have all of the information, I can’t do that,” she said.