The State Shouldn't Be so quick to separate families? Interesting article in the Detroit Free Press this morning that has around 11 comments so far as of 10:45am. You can of course help change that. Link at bottom of this post direct to article under background information.
Some talking points in the article that you might remember.
Little Leo was placed in foster care after his father inadvertently bought Leo a lemonade spiked with alcohol at Comerica Park. Leo was separated from his parents for several days, and his father was banished from his family's home in Ann Arbor for more than a week before child protective workers concluded that Leo's exposure to hard lemonade had been an innocent mistake.
...a new report by the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform concludes DHS removes other children from their homes on similarly dubious grounds and diverts money to expensive foster care and group homes that could be better spent helping families overcome temporary difficulties.
Richard Wexler, executive director of the Alexandria-based coalition, says Michigan's child protection bureaucracy suffers from a "take-the-child-and-run mentality" that treats parents who lose their jobs or fail to pay their utility bills the same as those who abuse drugs or physically harm their children.
I drummed up a complete copy of the report from Richard Wexler's National Coalition for Child Protection Reform for you to review.
NCCPR's Michigan Report and related materials are available via the following site:
http://www.nccpr.org/reports/michiganinfo1976.html
You might also be interested in some of the foster care changes under last year's S.3038 that I wrote about pertaining to "Improved Adoption Incentives" here:
Make your comments to the Detroit Free Press about the Foster Care System:
