MDHHS says its making progress in child welfare systems after 17 years of court oversight
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Senior Deputy Director of Michigan's Children's Services Administration, or CSA, Demetrius Starling testifies before the Michigan House Health Policy Committee in Lansing, Michigan on May 6, 2025. | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has made strides to ensure children in the state's care are safe and able to leave the child welfare system equipped to succeed, Senior Deputy Director of Michigan's Children's Services Administration, or CSA, Demetrius Starling told lawmakers Tuesday.
It's been 17 years since the state's child welfare system first was placed under federal monitoring in 2008 after Children's Rights., a national children's welfare advocacy group, brought legal action outlining the state's failures in protecting children in the foster care system, placing kids in safe foster homes and facilitating timely placements in permanent homes.
Michigan only met or exceeded standards for five of the 26 monitored areas, according to the federal monitoring report issued in January, although the state was successful in ensuring caseworkers have no more than 15 children assigned to them at a time and improved on creating service plans for children to be connected to resources and followed through on those plans.
Though 21 of the 26 monitored areas fell short of compliance, the report notes that Michigan came close to compliance in facilitating children in the foster care system all have monthly visits with their siblings and ensuring children entering the system receive initial medical and mental health exams within 30 days of entering into foster care.
The state health department remains committed to improving child welfare to the point that federal oversight will no longer be required, Starling told the House Human Services Committee Tuesday, noting that it's not uncommon for states to be under oversight for decades before exiting monitoring, though the department is aiming for an earlier exit.
Since 2006 when Children's Rights raised legal issues with Michigan's welfare system, Michigan has removed various areas from the monitored agreement, notably increasing educational opportunities and improving 4-year high school graduation rates for children in foster care.
Starling said the state has increased the number of visits caseworkers pay to children in foster care since 2006 and has increased child immunization rates for children in care.
'I think that it's our obligation and our responsibility that whenever children are removed and placed under our care and jurisdiction, [that] we work to expedite that return back safely to the homes for those children, keeping children safe again with their families,' Starling said. '…finding different ways to keep kids safe with their families, in their communities, with prevention services, if at all possible, to divert families and children away from our systems is a Paramount focus of ours.'
The goal of the committee is to see that kids are receiving the absolute best care they can, rather than the minimum legally required, House Human Services Committee Chair Rep. John Roth (R-Interlochen) said. Roth said he's worried that the state health department may argue for the court to lower its standards in order for Michigan to be released from monitoring, as the federal judge overseeing the improvements said in January Michigan could be released within the next two years.
Underachieving is not the goal, Starling replied, noting that there have been pros and cons to the lengthy court oversight, as the legislature and state partners have unlocked resources and funds to improve case management resources and reform child welfare as a whole. In order to speedily convince the court to relieve the state of monitoring, Starling said it's MDHHS' goal to exceed certain metrics by 30% past the benchmarks set, to convey the department's interest in maintaining improvements.
An end to court oversight would allow MDHHS to focus more of its resources on implementing services to keep kids safe and rather than maintaining compliance with court reporting, Starling said.
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