Funding threatens gains in child welfare reform

Catherine Jun / The Detroit News

Detroit -- Though Michigan has met key targets for child welfare reform, such as reducing worker caseloads and backlogs of children awaiting placement, it has missed benchmarks such as foster care licensing of relatives, according to a report released Wednesday. And further progress could be thwarted by a lack of funding.

A 95-page report was released by a court monitor that documents progress the Michigan Department of Human Services has made in its first six months of court-ordered child welfare reform.

The report is the first comprehensive update provided to the court since the October 2008 settlement agreement that resolved a lawsuit against the state. Children's Rights, a New York-based advocacy group, sued the state, charging its system endangered the lives of children.

The document was drafted by the Public Catalyst Group, an independent firm appointed by the court to monitor progress over the five-year period.

The parties are scheduled back in federal court in Detroit today at 10 a.m., in Judge Nancy Edmunds' courtroom.

According to the report, the state agency implemented most of its requirements during the first phase, from Oct. 24, 2008, to March 31, managing by shifting funds within the agency. But future targets require additional funding from the state budget.

"There is reason to be concerned about the adequacy of resources to support the reform going forward," the report read. "The administration will have to advocate for increased investment if this reform is to be successful."

The report was released as the state House and Senate approved a budget for Human Services that is $67 higher than the budget approved by the Senate last summer.

According to the report, the state missed its marks in the following areas:

• Only 17 percent of the 4,260 children awaiting adoption for more than a year were moved into permanent homes. Another 6 percent of the total aged out of the welfare system without permanent families.

• Of the families caring for 6,000 relative children, only 418 children were living in licensed foster homes -- and qualifying for subsidies -- by the end of the period.

The state succeeded in other areas:

• More than a third of 5,052 children who had been waiting at least a year to reunite with their families either went home or were placed with relatives or adopted.

• As much as 96 percent of foster care workers reduced their caseloads from as many as 50 children to 30 children or fewer.

• The agency increased the number of child welfare training staff from 11 to 29.

• The agency created a centralized administration dedicated exclusively to providing child welfare services and collecting data to monitor families.

After reviewing the report, Children's Rights said that reform seemed to be on "unstable footing." The group called upon Gov. Jennifer Granholm and heads at Human Services to secure the support for the necessary dollars now.

"The state's leaders have too often retreated from their commitments and set back the reforms under economic and other pressures," said Sara Bartosz, senior attorney for Children's Rights. "There's no question that Michigan faces extremely difficult economic circumstances, but the ultimate effect of these service cuts will be to endanger countless families and children's lives and rack up more expenses as children get taken into foster care."

cjun@detnews.com (313) 222-2019