Legislator says Governor used children’s welfare as a political pawn

State Rep. Mary Whiteford (R-Casco Township) issued the following statement after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer unveiled the Michigan Juvenile Residential Advisory Committee:

“As chair of the Health and Human Services budget committee for the past two terms, and chair of the Adoption and Foster Care Task Force this term, I spent four years pushing the governor’s administration to improve residential support for our state’s most vulnerable children. For four years, those requests fell on deaf ears. Not once did I hear a word from the governor’s office about this issue. She even went so far as to veto our attempt to establish a state Foster Care Improvement Commission just this month.

“Now, as we near Election Day, the governor has finally decided to address this issue in a blatant attempt at pandering for votes. The truth is that the governor doesn’t care about what our kids need – she cares about getting what she needs to gain reelection.

“While I’m pleased to see progress finally being made, using the fate of displaced kids in our child welfare system as a pawn in her political game is despicable, and this progress is long overdue.”

###