Howard West
Howard West (1989; 1990)
Richard Rowe
Episodes: 303; 363; 479
Occupation: Social Worker
Howard West, who was a social worker filling in for Miss Malloy, accompanied Brian ‘Dodge’ Knight to the Fletcher house – his new foster home. Mr West also got involved in a case of child abuse, allowing Viv Newton to temporarily stay with Donald Fisher after it was revealed that her father had been hitting and emotionally abusing her. Howard later lost faith in Donald as a suitable guardian for Viv when it was revealed that Donald may have been responsible for the death of Shane Wilson in a shooting accident. His guardianship was terminated, which led Viv and Steven to run away together. Although Donald was unaware of the pair’s whereabouts, Howard rudely remarked that he often sees this happen when children are removed from the care of a guardian, and he assumed that Viv had gone to live with a relative at Donald’s suggestion.