The House Families, Children and Seniors Committee today approved state Rep. Luke Meerman’s plan to improve Child Protective Services (CPS) operations and better serve Michigan’s vulnerable children.

The legislation came in the wake of the Auditor General’s findings in a 2018 performance audit of CPS. The audit found 17 material conditions that called into question the effectiveness and efficiency of CPS.

“We have an obligation as a Legislature to ensure CPS is serving the children of our state quickly and effectively,” Meerman said. “I appreciate the overwhelming support this plan received from the committee.”

Meerman’s bill, part of a bipartisan package of bills, creates a record of license-exempt child caretakers who are involved in child abuse and neglect. Previously, only licensed caretakers were included in the record.

Other bills in the package:

• Require CPS to investigate and verify the well-being of every child in a home where suspected child abuse or neglect has occurred within 24 hours of the report being filed.
• Allow CPS supervisors to approve an abbreviated investigation when a child abuse or neglect case is determined to be false, freeing up more time and resources to investigate cases of real concern.
• Requires the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to follow-up on all cases where there is not enough evidence to prove abuse or neglect before the case can be closed.
• Force DHHS to check in with county-level CPS offices to ensure they have protocols in place and report findings to the Legislature annually.
• Create a new report for DHHS to submit quarterly to the Legislature so lawmakers are no longer forced to wait for an audit to be informed about CPS performance.

            The plan now moves to the House Judiciary Committee for further consideration.

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