The state of Michigan is trying to end federal oversight of its foster care system.
The monitoring began in 2008 after a lawsuit from a children’s advocacy organization. Detroit News reporter Kara Berg who has followed this story, says, at the time, kids weren't being kept safe.
"If they were abused or neglected, the investigations into that abuse or neglect weren't done properly. They weren't being removed from those homes."
Berg says the state has most recently hit required benchmarks related to sibling visitations and conducting timely mental and medical health exams after kids enter the foster care system. The state has not yet met requirements for parental visitations and documenting when children are put on certain medications.
This week in court, the state’s health department director said they want the oversight to end by next summer. But Berg says the judge overseeing the federal monitoring wasn't confident the state would reach that goal.
"She did say that there were still some serious problems with child safety that she wanted to see taken care of before she would feel comfortable releasing them from this," Berg explained.
WKAR's Sophia Saliby spoke with Berg about her reporting.
Interview Highlights
On the problems in the state's foster care system that led to federal monitoring
Kids in foster care weren't being kept safe. If they were abused or neglected, the investigations into that abuse or neglect weren't done properly. They weren't being removed from those homes. There weren't enough safety checks being done on possible foster homes or relative foster homes. The state also wasn't doing enough to monitor like residential treatment facilities that kids were being placed in, which led to abuse and neglect in those facilities as well.
On what the state is improving on and still struggling with
Some of the areas that they have improved recently on are doing sibling visitations when kids are not in the same foster home together, conducting medical and mental health examinations within a certain period of time after kids enter foster care and doing home studies to check that relative foster homes are safe for kids when they're entering that in there ... But the state's still struggling with doing enough visitations with parents and kids when they're in foster care, keeping documentation when kids are put on psychotropic meds and monitoring those contracts for residential facilities and any private foster care agencies.
On what the judge overseeing the case said this week about ending oversight
This week, the judge said that she didn't say that there was no chance of them being released from federal monitoring next summer, but she did say that there were still some serious problems with child safety that she wanted to see taken care of before she would feel comfortable releasing them from this.
Interview Transcript
Sophia Saliby: The state of Michigan is trying to end federal oversight of its foster care system. The monitoring began in 2008 after a lawsuit from a children’s advocacy organization.
This week in court, the state’s health department director said they want the oversight to end by next summer.
Kara Berg has been reporting this story for the Detroit News, and she joins me now.
Kara Berg: Thanks for having me.
Saliby: Let's start at the beginning. Can you talk about the problems in the state's foster care system that led to this federal oversight, you know, 15-plus years ago?
Berg: Yeah. So, some of the big problems that Children's Rights, the advocacy group, found, were that children were just not safe in foster care. Kids in foster care weren't being kept safe. If they were abused or neglected, the investigations into that abuse or neglect weren't done properly. They weren't being removed from those homes.
There weren't enough safety checks being done on possible foster homes or relative foster homes. The state also wasn't doing enough to monitor residential treatment facilities that kids were being placed in, which led to abuse and neglect in those facilities as well.
Saliby: The state was given 25 goals to end federal monitoring. What were some of these benchmarks, and what progress has been made since they were established?]
Berg: So, the state actually had far more than 25 goals initially. This is just what's left. Whenever the state meets a goal and meets that goal for enough years, then it's taken off the monitoring list. They're just left with those 25 areas right now.
Some of the areas that they have improved recently on are doing sibling visitations when kids are not in the same foster home together, conducting medical and mental health examinations within a certain period of time after kids enter foster care and doing home studies to check that relative foster homes are safe for kids when they're entering that in there.
Those are some of the things that they've been doing better on, but the state's still struggling with doing enough visitations with parents and kids when they're in foster care, keeping documentation when kids are put on psychotropic meds and monitoring those contracts for residential facilities and any private foster care agencies.
Saliby: What happened at court this week, and does it seem like the state's goal of ending this federal oversight by next summer is realistic?
Berg: Every six months, the state will meet with the advocacy group, the court monitors and the federal judge who's assigned to this case, and just go over what the court monitors found for a six-month period. So, this status conference was going over the first half of 2024, so it's a little bit delayed in the reporting.
They talk about the progress the state's made, what the state is still struggling with and MDHHS Director Elizabeth Hertel will generally go over some of the state's programs and things that they're doing to try to better the child welfare system.
This week, the judge said that she didn't say that there was no chance of them being released from federal monitoring next summer, but she did say that there were still some serious problems with child safety that she wanted to see taken care of before she would feel comfortable releasing them from this.
Saliby: And the child safety, those relate to those goals that they're still struggling with, correct?
Berg: Some of the goals they're still struggling with don't relate to child safety. And the health department does say like, well, these are more paperwork issues. They don't actually relate a systemic issue or child safety, but some of them, like the abuse and neglect reports of kids in foster care that directly relates to child safety.
Saliby: Kara Berg is a reporter for the Detroit News. Thank you for joining me.
Berg: Thank you for having me.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
