State shouldn't be so quick to separate families

State shouldn't be so quick to separate families

No one who remembers 7-year-old Leo Ratte's ordeal at the hands of Michigan's Department of Human Services last spring will be surprised by a national child advocacy group's conclusion that DHS has become too quick to seize children from loving homes on flimsy evidence of abuse. The Ratte family's case remains a potent symbol of the need to put more emphasis on helping parents and children, not separating them.