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Michigan lawmakers hear WMPC defend performance‑based foster care after MDHHS budget cut
Summary
West Michigan Partnership for Children told a joint House oversight committee that its Kent County performance‑based foster care model produced faster permanency and lower institutional placements but was removed from the state budget. WMPC asked lawmakers to retract a University of Michigan evaluation, restore multi‑year contracting language and codify protections after MDHHS’s action left 426 children reassigned and prompted litigation.
West Michigan Partnership for Children leaders told a joint House oversight hearing on Dec. 22, 2025 that Michigan’s only regional performance‑based foster care pilot improved outcomes for children in Kent County and should be protected from unilateral administrative changes.
"Children deserve better futures," Sonia Norman, chief executive officer of West Michigan Partnership for Children, said in opening testimony describing the model’s goal of aligning public investment to measurable child‑safety and permanency outcomes.
Norman and colleagues said WMPC, launched in 2017 under legislative authority, operates a performance‑based payment structure that reinvested savings into services and required participating agencies to accept high‑acuity children without "eject or reject" policies. She said independent evaluation showed children in WMPC spent about 79 fewer days in foster care on average and had higher short‑term permanency compared with two similar counties.
Tim Bergsma, WMPC’s chief financial officer, told the committee that despite a contract boilerplate calling for a three‑year master agreement plus two optional years, WMPC consistently received annual grants, which the organization says caused…
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