Bills aim to keep foster children with family members

The Michigan House has advanced bills that would allow family members of children removed from their homes by the state to receive financial assistance to care for relatives.

House Bills 4696 and 4697, sponsored by Luke Meerman, R-Coopersville, and Stephanie Young, D-Detroit, would amend Michigan’s Guardianship Assistance Act by expanding eligibility for guardianship assistance and broadening the definition of relatives who may qualify for support. The bills passed the House April 16 and await a vote in the Senate.

The purpose of the legislation is to place more children with relatives in the event they are separated from their parents, according to a Senate Fiscal Agency analysis. There are about 10,000 children in foster care statewide.

Currently, for any foster parents, including relatives, to receive assistance from the state, they must go through the foster parent licensing process.

These bills aim to streamline the process for family members who want to care for minors to receive state assistance.

Meerman said in an interview with Michigan Capitol Confidential that this hasn’t been accomplished sooner because the wheels of government are slow. Unlike other interest groups, children in foster care largely do not have lobbyists to help.

“The squeaky wheel gets the oil,” he said.

Young did not respond to emails seeking comment.

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy addressed foster care issues at a June 10 event in Lansing.

Currently, children languish in foster care too long, and no state currently meets federal permanency standards established under the Adoption and Safe Families Act, Tim Keller, senior vice president and legal director at the Center for the Rights of Abused Children, told the panel.

The act calls for moving children toward permanent placements when they have spent 15 of the previous 22 months in foster care, Keller said.

In some cases, children cycle through numerous placements over several years. Keller argued that foster care should be viewed as a temporary bridge rather than a destination.

Former Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Maura Corrigan, who also served as director of the Michigan Department of Human Services, said Michigan has made comprehensive efforts to get an adequate array of foster homes to recruit and retain foster parents.

Corrigan pointed to a shortage of staff, noting that the Legislature authorized 4,000 positions in children’s services but usually fills only about 3,300 positions. There are currently 300 vacancies among the 1,600 positions that are authorized for investigations.