The State of Michigan fails its children whether they are stuck in foster care homes or involved in child-custody disputes between parents. Large federal block grants repeatedly compromise and sway the discretion of family court judges in Michigan.
The Social Security Act proscribes programs under Title IV for Aid to Needy Families. Unfortunately the programs are often geared towards state revenue generation as opposed to helping families or their children. All too often the programs provide incentive for predetermined outcomes of separating children from parents, whether it be through the foster care system or the creation of an absent parent in a child custody lawsuit, often under the guise of the the subjective "best interests" standard.
The Associated Press today reported that a Judge will be granting class-action status in a foster care lawsuit on behalf of the state's 19,000 foster children in the next couple of weeks.
According to the article about the suit, "It alleges that the state's foster-care system has for years been plagued by shortcomings in resources and services that have resulted in inadequate physical and mental care and foster children being repeatedly moved between homes."
The State of Michigan's legal bill is going to keep climbing with more and more groups getting fed up with how Michigan treats its children as a commodity instead of human beings that need both parents.
Judge to grant class-action status in Mich. foster care suit
| 2/15/2007, 7:18 a.m. ET The Associated Press | |  |
DETROIT (AP) — A federal judge said she will grant class-action status to a lawsuit seeking reforms in the state of Michigan's foster care system.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds in Detroit said Wednesday she would grant the class-action status on behalf of the state's 19,000 foster children within two weeks.
The suit was filed in August by the New York-based Children's Rights. It alleges that the state's foster-care system has for years been plagued by shortcomings in resources and services that have resulted in inadequate physical and mental care and foster children being repeatedly moved between homes.
It cites the 6,300 children available for adoption who are being raised as wards of the state as well as the 40 percent of children living in unlicensed foster homes.
"One way or another, we are committed to seeing the child welfare system reformed," Marcia Lowry, the group's executive director, told The Detroit News for a Thursday story.
Michigan Department of Human Services spokeswoman Karen Stock declined to comment, saying the judge had not yet issued an order.
Children's Rights has successfully sued other states and counties over foster care problems, the Detroit Free Press reported.
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On the Net:
Children's Rights: http://www.childrensrights.org
Michigan Department of Human Services: http://www.michigan.gov/dhs
