Let grandparents care for their families

Let grandparents care for their families

Barack Obama speaks often of how important his grandmother was in his life. The president-elect was raised for eight years by Madelyn Payne Dunham who, sadly, died just before the election. Today, we would call it "informal kinship care." Children with the potential to become the next Barack Obama, but happen to live in Michigan, may not be so fortunate.
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In cases where DHS used to be able to turn immediately to a grandparent, the consent decree imposes severe new restrictions. It requires that any relative who steps forward to care for a loved one whose parents are accused of maltreatment meet all the same hypertechnical licensing requirements imposed on total strangers.