State lawmakers hear testimony alleging repeated failures in Michigan child welfare system after multiple child deaths

LANSING — Members of the Michigan House Oversight Subcommittee on Child Welfare heard emotional testimony on systemic failures in the state’s child welfare system during a hearing that focused on cases in which prosecutors, advocates and local officials say Child Protective Services (CPS) and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) failed to act in time.

Attorney Jonathan Marco testified that several child deaths and severe injuries were foreseeable and preventable, citing the 2022 death of 3‑year‑old Chase Allen as a central example. “His decaying corpse was found in the basement freezer of his mother’s home,” Marco told the panel, adding that an autopsy found a fractured femur, skull fracture, brain bleeds and other injuries. Marco said CPS had been aware of injuries and signs of abuse months earlier, including a hospital report recommending a child‑abuse investigation; the file, he said, was closed the day after Chase was discharged from the hospital.

Why it matters: the committee heard that the failures are not isolated, and that state audits have also identified shortfalls in oversight. The Office of the Auditor General and the subcommittee are examining how MDHHS and its Office of Family Advocate investigate child…