Will more cash help foster kids to find safe homes faster? Officials with Michigan’s Department of Health & Human Services want to know, and they are willing to put their money where their mouths are. We, Robert and Kathleen Raskin of Las Vegas, are happy to see an organization that is willing to put the needs of foster kids before their desire to line their own pockets, and we hope this sets a trend that will result in more states reconsidering the resources they direct to this extremely vulnerable demographic.

In the Children’s Best Interests

Foster care groups are funded on a per-child basis, and once a child is returned to their family or adopted, they leave the system and the group loses the funding. What the Michigan officials are proposing is to form a system that will keep the remaining funds that are left over once a child exits the system to reinvest in the remaining foster children. If a child returns to the system within a year, they will get no money, so child protective services will no longer be able to profit from placing children. Taking away the financial incentive to repeatedly remove a child lowers children’s risk of being removed from their families for a paycheck. This is important in a place like Kent County, where the rate of removal of children from their families is higher than the state average.

We, Robert and Kathleen Raskin, are also happy to report that this state is taking steps to give parents additional help because an investigation determined that many parents have difficulty regaining their children because they don’t have the support they need. By parents, communities, and organizations working together in the best interests of children, their needs will finally be put first.