State Rep. Matt Hall (R-Emmett Township) and the House Oversight Committee he chairs unanimously recommended today several proposals to protect Michigan’s most vulnerable children from abuse and neglect.

The recommended amendments to Michigan’s Child Protection Law came after the House panel conducted multiple hearings on the Michigan Office of Auditor General’s (OAG) September 2018 Performance Audit of Children’s Protective Services Investigations. The audit found 17 material conditions that called into question the effectiveness and efficiency of Children’s Protective Services (CPS) and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Hearings included testimony from the OAG, CPS, and DHHS.

“The Auditor General’s findings revealed Child Protective Services was failing to operate effectively,” Hall said. “This is a serious matter because our state’s most vulnerable children need CPS to protect them from abuse and neglect. These children have nobody else. CPS has a duty to these children to get this right.”

The Oversight Committee’s recommendations to improve Michigan’s Child Protection Law include:

• CPS should verify the well-being of all children in a home where suspected child abuse or neglect has occurred within 24 hours of reported child abuse or neglect.
• When a CPS investigation finds that a family needs to receive community-based services to alleviate a child’s risk of abuse and neglect, CPS must monitor the family to verify that they are participating in the community-based services.
• A license-exempt child care provider should be added to the Central Registry if a preponderance of evidence exists that he or she committed child abuse or neglect. This would treat license-exempt child care providers the same as owners, operators, volunteers, or employees of licensed or registered child care organizations, who have direct and regular contact with children in much the same manner.
• Centralized state oversight should exist to verify each county is properly developing and implementing its required child abuse and neglect investigation protocols. These protocols are intended to improve cooperation among professionals and agencies that are commonly involved in child abuse and neglect cases.
• CPS should document reasons it abbreviated an investigation and develop an abbreviated investigation checklist. Abbreviated investigations occur when an investigator discovers early on that no child abuse or neglect occurred.
• CPS should provide periodic reports measuring its compliance with conditions raised in the Auditor General’s September 2018 report to an appropriate oversight authority.

The Oversight Committee also recommends further investigation, perhaps by workgroups, to address CPS worker safety and potential Central Registry improvements.

“As chairman of the House Oversight Committee, I worked closely with my Democrat and Republican colleagues to review the Auditor General’s findings and identify new laws and policies that will better protect our state’s most vulnerable children from abuse and neglect,” Hall said. “Now that the Oversight Committee has adopted this report, I will incorporate the report’s recommendations into a bipartisan package of bills to strengthen the Michigan Child Protection Law.”

The report has been referred to the House Families, Children and Seniors Committee for further action.