Click here to download Children’s Rights Lawsuit Settlement
From Detroit Free Press
BY ROBIN ERB • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • July 4, 2008
Michigan must hire hundreds of caseworkers and specialists, create an agency dedicated to the welfare of children and spend an estimated $200 million revamping its foster care system as part of a settlement of a class action announced Thursday.
For the thousands of children in Michigan’s foster care system, the agreement hopefully will mean spending less time without a permanent home and better care while in it, according to officials at both the Michigan Department of Human Services and Children’s Rights, the New York-based advocacy group that bought the suit in 2006. The settlement averts a potentially long and expensive federal trial that was set to begin Monday.
Within five years, caseloads should be reduced to about 15 per foster care caseworker, meaning there will be more visits to foster homes and facilities. And DHS will add about 700 new employees — 278 of whom are in the process of being hired or are hired, said Edward Woods III, spokesman for the department.
The state agreed from the start that it needed to change its system, Woods said. It was a matter of making the best changes.
“The problem comes with these types of issues is, ‘What is the best way to do it?’ … The motivation all along has been kids,” he said.
Children’s Rights officials said the settlement will mean “top-to-bottom reform and federal court oversight of Michigan’s long-failing child welfare system” — changes that DHS estimates could cost about $50 million annually for the next four years — about 6% more than the state would be expected to spend on children’s services during that period.
Many of the reforms are under way, but the settlement formalizes them, Woods said. Costs will be shared by state and federal funds.
“There’s a lot of good substance here. Something I’m struck by and pleased about is that all of the things in the agreement are important, and a number of them are being worked on,” said Janet Reynolds Snyder, executive director of the Michigan Federation for Children and Families, an association of private foster care providers. She called the settlement “truly a historic moment in Michigan.”
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Please find below 2008 flyers from The Center for Civil Justice on Michigan’s summer food program for kids. Also provided below are links to useful Websites for those who might need help with food assistance.
On Thursday, June 12, 2008 from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM, Community Mental Health Authority-CEI, Mental Health, Juvenile Justice Screening, Assessment & Diversion Project will present “Parent Management Training - Oregon Model (PMTO).”
