A task force convened to address what critics call a crisis in Michigan’s system for providing lawyers in child protective proceedings has recommended sweeping reforms including statewide attorney compensation standards, training requirements, and caseload caps.
The Child Protective Legal Representation Task Force was convened in 2023 to help overhaul the part of the judicial system that can result in family separation and the placement of juveniles in foster care.
Chief among its recommendations outlined in a report released Tuesday is the creation of a statewide parent and child legal representation office to bring uniformity to the current county-by-county system, where an attorney providing adequate representation in an urban area can earn as little as minimum wage, the report found.
“Michigan’s current system … provided vastly different levels of legal support to the parties in these proceedings depending on where you were in the state and that was obviously resulting in inequitable treatment,” Michigan Supreme Court Justice Megan Cavanagh said of the report’s findings. “So, unfortunately, the reality is courts across Michigan have been struggling for years to obtain and maintain court-appointed attorneys for this important work.”