Foster care in Michigan is much more than just a placement system managed by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. It is an intricate web of responses to vulnerable children and families experiencing crisis. The state, where more than 10,000 children are in foster care at any given time, has taken steps to reform the oversight and management of its child welfare system. However, there are still significant obstacles that influence the quality of care for children in the long run.
Fundamentally, foster care in Michigan is meant to be a temporary strategy to provide safety and security for children as biological families work to regain custody of children or as a permanent adoptive family is found for a child. But systemic barriers — including a lack of prospective foster families and a lack of trauma-informed care — can frequently hold kids in care longer. These long-term placements also increase the likelihood that children will experience multiple placement moves, which can disrupt a child's emotional and academic growth.
One of the key topics regarding foster care in Michigan is the process of aging out. Hundreds of youth exit the system each year at 18 or 21 without a permanent family or the skills needed for a successful life, moving them into homelessness, unemployment and jail. State programs and the nonprofit agencies they support have increasingly focused on programs such as housing stipends, job training, and mental health treatment.
The state, moreover, has been striving to enhance culturally competent care. Michigan is home to a richly diverse population that accounts for indigenous communities and immigrant families, all of whom have differing needs and histories when it comes to child welfare systems. Foster placements that make children feel disconnected can compound their displacement, emotional displacement. However, there's an outcry for more foster families reflective of the meagre lives of children coming into the system.
Technology is also transforming foster care in Michigan. Digital services are also enabling caseworkers to communicate more efficiently, manage their workloads and make better matches between children and potential foster families. But advances in technology need to be coupled with sustained policy improvements and sufficient funding if we're really to tip the scales.
Ultimately, passing key laws and implementing policy changes to improve the lives of youth in foster care in Michigan will require a multifaceted approach that balances the urgency for safety with the need for long-term stability, respects the cultural identity of these youth, and provides support for those who have aged out. It requires ongoing cooperation between governmental agencies, foster families, community groups, advocates, and others to transform the system into one that not only protects each child in its care but also empowers them to become stronger and more independent.
Ryan Harish is the author of this article. For more details about Residential and Family.
