It seems odd timing that a federal judge has eased some of the mandates Michigan’s child welfare must meet as part of a more than 15-year period of federal oversight considering a report detailing the system’s continued inadequacies.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has been negligent in ensuring the state’s foster care system doesn’t further harm the children under its charge. For years, it has failed to provide enough foster homes for children in the system, to keep siblings together and to properly investigate abuse or neglect.

Yet in a consent decree issued last week, Detroit U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Edmunds made changes to the oversight program eliminating nearly half the provisions in the agreement and reducing the number of its functions being monitored.

Two years ago, Edmunds called the child welfare system “just devastating,” despite more than a decade of reform efforts.

“If anything, we’ve slipped backwards,” Edmunds said.

The numbers from January’s report don’t indicate significant progress.

The state lost foster homes overall in 2022 and did not have enough placements for siblings, children with disabilities and older children, according to the latest monitoring report, which covers July to December 2022.

Michigan met 87.6% of its goal in licensing new homes in 2022. It licensed 845 of a desired 965 homes, but 1,359 homes were also closed for a net loss of 514 homes.

The state continued to lose homes in the first three months of 2023.

MDHHS says it is working to recruit new foster families. The state also recently increased the reimbursement rate for fostering.

There’s also been an effort to place children with relatives and family. The state should continue to invest in resources and staff to help identify and support relatives who can assist.

A bright spot is the decrease in the number of kids in foster care to fewer than 10,000 less from 19,000 in 2008.

Some of the provisions eliminated from federal oversight were timelines Children’s Protective Services were required to follow to begin investigations after a complaint is filed.

In the report issued in 2022, monitors highlighted instances in which the department knew about violations in care at institutions or group homes and didn’t address them promptly. They also revealed almost 25% of 130 investigations reviewed involved “maltreatment of care” accusations that were improperly reviewed.

It’s fair to question whether the abysmal performance has been turned around so quickly. And even if it had, the troubles at the department have been so sustained that more monitoring could only improve outcomes.

Advocates for the department have argued keeping the consent decree drains resources and distracts staff.

In 2021, only four states had more CPS workers than Michigan.

Children’s welfare in the foster system should be one of the state’s top priorities. It should continue to find new ways to keep children with siblings and relatives.

But it must also be held to account for the lives that have been affected under its watch — and demonstrate that continues to improve.

— Detroit News