National Adoption Day

Now, you do know National Adoption Day was spearheaded by Michigan Supreme Court Justice Maura Corrigan. This was her brain child when she was sitting on the commission for the Pew Foster Care Commission. She was the one who encouraged judges across the country to get involved with foster care and adoption agencies to bring greater awareness for the need to adopt more kids who linger for years in the system.

So, with that said, Justice Corrigan ran her re-election campaign on the foster care and adoption platform. One of her commercials encouraged people, as it was not exclusive to Michigan, to call her and thank her for all she has done for foster care and adoption in Michigan. I am quite sure you are wondering, "What exactly has she done for foster care and adoption?" Allow me to tell you.

On a national level, Justice Corrigan has directed judges to violate their state constitutions in the conflict of interest of sitting on child welfare boards while hearing cases of parents challenging the termination of their parental rights, where the defendant is the child welfare agency of which the judges sit.

Justice Corrigan has given numerous national interviews promoting National Adoption Day by advocating for a defendant while the matter was before the court. That defendant would be the Superintendent of Michigan Children's Institute, William J. Johnson. He is the legal state guardian of over 7,000 children, who was never appointed, never elected. The Superintendent represents the State of Michigan and Justice Corrigan represents him, while she presides over the case.

Justice Corrigan, when she was Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, was the Chief Administrator of the state's Child Welfare Services Program; the same program that allowed the state to be granted SSA Title IV-E waivers as being in the top 5 of the worst systems in the state. When her colleague Justice Clifford Taylor, who historically was not re-elected, became Chief Justice, he allowed Justice Corrigan to improperly discharge his duties to oversee Child Welfare Services. The jobs they did was so poorly done, the state has just entered a ground-breaking settlement agreement to reform its system.

Not only that, Justice Corrigan, along with Justice Taylor, averted the almost loss of 40 million dollars in federal funds, by covering up the double billing and false claims in Child Welfare Services.

My suggestion is this: Let's do a nation to encourage everyone to thank her for what she has done for foster care and adoption. It would be a bit under cover and devious, but those in power would know what we meant.

Thank You Justice Maura Corrigan
For All You Have Done For Foster Care and Adoption

http://www.freep.com/article/20060823/NEWS02/101260010/1005/NEWS03
(The boy's face goes here)

National Adoption Awareness Day
(play on the term. it just might slide by)