By Ed White
Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) -- Michigan's child-welfare system is failing to meet the conditions of a sweeping 2008 agreement intended to improve foster care and protective services, a court-appointed watchdog said last week.
Kevin Ryan's latest report traced the problems to management at the Department of Human Services under Gov. Jennifer Granholm. He said Michigan's new governor will have an opportunity after Jan. 1 to "build a high-level leadership team" and fulfill an agreement to more quickly move kids out of foster care and into permanent homes.
"Unless there is a fundamental adjustment in their approach to this undertaking, it is unlikely this reform will reach most of the children and families . in the foreseeable future," Ryan wrote.
A New York-based group called Children's Rights, whose lawsuit led to the consent decree, had planned to ask a judge to appoint a receiver to take over Michigan's child-welfare system, but it backed off Tuesday and said Gov.-elect Rick Snyder deserves a chance to tackle the problem.
"We'll consult with the new team," attorney Sara Bartosz said.
In 2008, the state settled a lawsuit filed on behalf of nearly 20,000 children. Michigan agreed to many changes, including hundreds of new hires to reduce the caseloads of workers who oversee children in foster care or protective services.
Ryan said the state failed to achieve "by a wide margin" caseload numbers for workers who investigate allegations of child abuse and neglect. And with more than 1,300 people soon retiring, he said, the department does not expect to comply in the months ahead.
"DHS has not only been slow to respond to the need for more investigators, but leadership has also let this group of staff fall farther and farther behind," Ryan said.
In other areas, it is taking the state more than six months, instead of the 90-day target, to grant licenses to people who want to take care of children who are relatives, Ryan said.
His monitoring team also discovered a "basic math problem" at the department when trying to understand just how many kids were entering and leaving the child-welfare system.
There is a "formidable gap" between what Michigan agreed to in 2008 and what has happened since then, Ryan said.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds was disappointed by the news. She wants to meet with all sides in late January or February after Snyder takes office.
"I'm hopeful we can turn some of these things around," Edmunds said.
She said Snyder wanted to attend the hearing but was discouraged by his staff because he's not governor yet and "had to be tied down" to stay away.
Human Services Director Ismael Ahmed refused to answer questions about the report as he left court, directing them to his staff. He starts a new job in January at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.
"DHS continues to make every effort to ensure vulnerable children have safe, stable and loving homes where they can thrive and reach their full potential," spokesman Edward Woods III said. "It's unconscionable that the plaintiff and the court monitor suggested that by a change of administration there would be more of a sense of urgency from the Michigan Department of Human Services."
Published: Wed, Dec 15, 2010
