A Lenawee County Probate & Juvenile Court judge on record at a permanency-review hearing established a guardianship goal for one child with caregiver Mark Kamen and ordered that all five children remain in their current placements as "the safest and least restrictive" option under the circumstances.

The court said it had given notice to all interested parties and recited concerns about returning any of Rebecca Whitten’s children to her at this time because of ongoing housing instability, substance-abuse treatment gaps and employment challenges. The judge instructed the parties to complete required steps and required a psychological evaluation for Christopher Carter to inform further decisions.

The court referred to the guardian arrangement as an "epic guardianship" with Mr. Kamen and said placement with him would better serve those children pending completion of custody filings. The judge added: "Children will remain in their placements, that is the safest and least restrictive on the circumstances. We'll look at the case again in 3 months," and the court later set the next permanency review for Feb. 24 at 9:30 a.m.

Caseworkers and counsel had urged the court to continue the standard review period and to allow the department and new caseworker to continue working with the family. Sasha Thomas (caseworker) told the court that Leticia Rodriguez Phipps would be the ongoing worker assigned to the family going forward.

The court did not enter a final custody order at the hearing; it established a permanency goal for one child and set monitoring and follow-up steps, including the psychological evaluation for Mr. Carter and continued work on housing and treatment plans for Ms. Whitten.

Next steps: the court will review case progress at the scheduled Feb. 24 hearing and expects updated reports and any required evaluations before that date.