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MDHHS official outlines child‑welfare reforms and residential bed strategy amid service gaps
Summary
MDHHS presented progress under its federal oversight settlement, reported improvements in permanency and placement stability, and said while the Michigan Youth Treatment Center can hold about 60 beds it currently houses 16 because staffing and specialized program availability — not bed counts — limit placements.
Tim Click, interim senior deputy director for the Children’s Services Administration at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Human Services that the department has reduced monitored obligations from earlier versions of the federal consent decree and is focused on targeted outcomes to exit federal oversight.
"We are now down to 42 commitments," Click said, referencing the streamlined modified implementation, sustainability and exit plan. He told the panel that recent court hearings found the department met or exceeded performance standards in six monitored areas and was within 10% in three more.
Why it matters: the department framed recent gains — including a rise in permanency within 12 months from about 9.5% for the 2023 cohort to nearly 23% for the 2024 cohort — as evidence that targeted strategies (permanent resource managers, earlier attorney engagement and more frequent team decision-making meetings) are improving outcomes for children.
Click described structural changes the department has made: a division of continuous…
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