Last Friday, we aired an interview with Jose Carrera, the director of clinical services at St. Vincent Catholic Charities in Lansing. Mr. Carrera spoke of an ongoing program at St. Vincent that evaluates an at-risk child’s physical and emotional well-being. Some of those children are in foster care.
Today we look at a different facet of the foster care system.
In 1984, the state of Michigan created the Foster Care Review Board program. It’s made up of citizen volunteers outside the system who review mostly randomly selected cases to ensure foster care kids are indeed getting the proper support. Last week was the annual training for the program.
Current State’s Kevin Lavery talks with Kelly Wagner, the director of Child Welfare Services for the Michigan Supreme Court, and Dr. Margaret Hale-Smith. She’s the dean of students at Glen Oaks Community College in Centerville, and a new review board member.
First, Kelly Wagner spoke about what foster care review board members look for.