Michigan is closer to shrugging off federal oversight of its child welfare program, after a U.S. district court judge eliminated or reduced many of the requirements it must meet in order to do so.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, which administers the state’s child welfare program, attributed the order to the “tremendous progress” the department had made in keeping children in its care safe, including decreasing the number of kids placed in congregate care facilities and decreasing the overall number of children in foster care.
“We can really narrow our focus now on a couple of key issues and I think we’re really ready to do that moving forward and be really successful,” said MDHHS director Elizabeth Hertel.
More than 15 years of federal oversight
Michigan’s child welfare program has been monitored for over 15 years as the result of a lawsuit brought by advocacy and accountability organization Children’s Rights, which sued the state on behalf of children in its care. The suit alleged maltreatment or neglect of children in state custody, a lack of basic medical and mental health services for children in foster care, frequent moves between foster care placements and excessive lengths of stay in the child welfare system.