February 2010
Defendant pleads guilty to murder of Brenda Lee Yeager; faces possible double life sentence.
2009: HB2566, regarding the malicious assault law and protected
persons… refered to by Governor Manchin as the Social Worker Safety
Bill, passed the West Virginia Legislature on the final night of the
60-day session and has been signed into law. Brenda Lee Yeager's
daughter and sister, as well as the owners of the company she worked
for, were on hand to witness the signing along with Delegate Virginia
Mahan (D-Summers), who championed the bill, and Sam Hickman, CEO of NASW
WV, which supported the bill. Delegate Bonnie Brown (D-Kanawha), also a
supporter of the bill, and NASW member Dennis Pease, director of
Daymark, Inc, also attended the signing ceremony.
During the 2009 Legislative Interim meetings Select Committee A on
Children, Juveniles and Other Issues investigated safety measures,
including technology solutions. The Select Committee on Health was
assigned a study of the safety of DHHR employees engaged in in-home
services, but has asked House and Senate leaders to reassign the study
to Select Committee A.
HB2566 expands and redrafts the state’s malicious assault law to make
it clear that an assault on a social worker like Brenda Lee Yeager
would be a covered offense. Yeager was brutally beaten, raped, murdered
and her body mutilated on July 30, 2008. She provided Right From the
Start services for infants under the auspice of a for-profit provider.
Her services were reimbursed by the state’s Medicaid program. In years
past a social worker who was a state employee might typically have
provided such care, but these and similar services are now commonly
performed by providers under contract with the state or on a fee for
service basis.
“The passage of this significant piece of legislation is a fitting
tribute to the memory of our colleague Brenda Lee Yeager, and an
important tool for social workers across West Virginia,” said NASW WV
Chapter CEO Sam Hickman, ACSW. ‘Although no law can guarantee safety
and much remains to be done, this bill is an appropriate first step.”
The perpetrators and accomplice charged in Yeager’s murder are awaiting
trial.
Background
In the wake of social worker Brenda Lee Yeager's brutal murder on July
30, the WV Legislature has begun to review several issues related to
social worker safety in West Virginia. NASW Executive Director Sam
Hickman provided testimony and serves as a resource to the Legislature's
Select Commitee A (Interim Committee) and has participated in a number
of presentations to social workers on safety issues. NASW WV will
continue to work on compiling good safety recommendations for social
workers, employers and the Legislature.
Previous Updates (1)
During the Interim Legislative meetings, Select Committee A
recommended that the Legislature pass an updated Malicious Assault law
that more clearly defines that social workers providing in-home services
are among those against whom the crime of assault and battery is a
criminal offense. House Bill (HB) 2566 is currently pending in the House
Judiciary Committee. In addition, the State Senate has introduced
Senate Concurrent Resolutions 10 and 11. SCR 10 requests that the
Interim Committee on Government and Finance study issues related to the
safety of DHHR workers who are involved in home visits, while SCR 11
requests that the same committee continue Select Committee A during the
2009 Interims. Currently, SCR 10 is pending in the Senate Health and
Human Resources Committee, while SCR 11 is pending in the Senate
Judiciary Committee.
In addition, NASW WV has also suggested that state officials within
the departments of DHHR and Military Affairs and Public Safety work
closely together to define and recommend communications technology
strategies that will improve safety in the field through instant
communications. Other strategies recommended by NASW WV include
recommending that agencies hire office personnel whose duties include
tracking and regularly communicating with field workers and dispensing
specialized communications devices as warranted, clarifing missing
persons response protocols (especially in local law enforcement
jurisdictions), adding Health and Human Services Aide positions within
WV DHHR to facilitate home visits in pairs in potentially dangerous
situations, creating an advance direct practice career track in
protective services, enhancing salaries, and fully funding the Pay
Equity Commission's recommendation that the state provide a $500,000
match which, with additional federal funding, will help to equalize the
salary disparity between predominately female and other state job
classifications with similar requirements.
NASW WV appreciates the committment and leadership shown by Delegate
Virginia Mahan and Senator Roman Prezioso, co-chairs of Select Committee
A - Committee on Children, Juveniles and Other Issues, for adding this
important issue on to their already full committee agenda during the
2008 Interim meetings. We also appreciate the support of Senate
President Earl Ray Tomblin and Speaker of the House Richard Thompson,
who agreed to add social worker safety issues as an additional Select
Committee A study assignment.
- Download Personal Safety Tips for Social Workers by Janet Nelson, MSW
Previous Updates (2)
NASW West Virginia Chapter action on social worker safety issues
continues in the wake of Brenda Lee Yeager's tragic murder just over six
weeks ago.
Following the issuance of a press release (see updated version below,
along with other information and resources) Chapter Executive Director
Sam Hickman, MSW has been interviewed extensively by the media on
television and radio and in newspapers.
Delegate Virginia Mahan (D-Summers) and Senator Roman Prezioso
requested, and Senate President Tomblin and House Speaker Thompson
agreed, to add social worker safety as a study assignment for the
Legislative Interim Committee they chair- Select Committee A - Children,
Juveniles and Other. Sam met with Sen. Prezioso and Del. Mahan and
their committee attorneys in last August and provided testimony to
Select Committee A during the September Legislative Interim Meetings in
Bridgeport.
Sam has also been researching aspects of social worker safety and
providing some training on this issue since Brenda's murder. He
presented recently to a group of 30 social workers in Charleston, and
will participate in panel discussions in September (WVU Field Faculty
Seminar) and October (Children's Justice Task Force Conference). Board
member Paula Taylor, MSW will lead off the Opening Session at NASW WV's
Management Institute and Fall Conference with a Social Worker Safety
presentation. The conference will be held in Morgantown on September 25
and 26.
Some national attention has been given to Brenda's murder to bolster
efforts to pass the Federal Terri Zenner Social Worker Safety Act,
introduced in Congress in 2005. The act would provide grants to states
for safety technology and training.
This issue remains vitally important to NASW West Virginia. A
variety of recommendations will be put forward for social workers,
agencies and the WV Legislature. Check our website for
updates.
October 23, 2008