Report calls for sweeping changes to child welfare system
A state-appointed task force today called for sweeping reforms in Michigan's child welfare system with the goal of cutting the number of children placed outside the home by half.
The 143-page report makes detailed recommendations on how to improve children's chances at permanent placement, garner more funding for preventative programs, and reduce worker caseloads and increase their training.
Hold the f*ck up. Michigan is my territory.
ReplyDeleteThe previous DHS Director was Marianne Udow, who was appointed by the Governor after she came over from EDS and saved the governor's ass for her jacked up child support computer program. Udow's background was in IT.
Udow, then brought over her crew and set up shop in Department of Technology, the same department that was supposed to be designing and operating SACWIS (MI-SWSS): the state automatic reporting system; the state system that is suppose to oversee the eligibility of Title IV-E and Medicaid funding; the same damn system that was suppose to provide the Michigan Auditor General; Thomas McTavish, the ability to properly conduct his single program audits of the state's child welfare program under compliance of the Sarbenes-Oxley Act, the same federally funded system that did not work.
Udow, the same DHS Director that had no clue of what to do but ask for mo' money, mo' money, and mo' money out of that "Equity" report.
Udow, the one and only supreme leader of DHS that ran the department into the ground, failing federal reviews making the state stand first in line to get the federal Title-IV-E waivers.
Udow, the same individual who allocated funds to privately contracted child placing agencies that double-billed children as juvenile deliquents and temporary wards of the court.
Udow, the women who was so damn grossly negligent in the execution of her fiduciary duties allowed hundreds of millions of dollars in improper and questionable payments to go to unregulated child placing agencies. And, to make sure that none of her cronies got busted in the fraud schemes that were funded by the feds, she ensconced the only independent regulatory entity, Office of Children and Adult Licensing (OCAL) within DHS. So what you had, or rather still have, is the "ol' gals' network" watching over the "ol' gals' network". No one lost licenses, no one was contractually debarred, and no one was ever held criminally accountable.
Now, people better leave my boy, Ishmeal Ahmed alone. He is real. He was thrown into a nasty cess pool that Udow filled with her utter incompetency. Udow is a techy. Ahmed is a creator. It is going to take some time, but he has made major changes in the most difficult area of the state's child welfare system: the philosophy.
He is working on much more, but give him time. He only just started to flush Udow's backed-up toilet of leadership.
I got your back, Ish.
Now, step off the Governor. The Office of the Governor is a weak entity due to what was called "Type III Transfers" the previous administration did to decentralize the powers of the office. So what you have is a public position that was strip-mined of authority so when things went wrong, Engler could just point his finger and say, "They did it, it wasn't me!" The authority was transferred to the Department heads, like Udow.
The Governor joined with Ahmed because she, too, is from the block. She already announced the collapse and reduction of state departments. For those who do not have a clue about public administration and policy making, Wexler, it takes a hot minute to deconstruct and reconstruct government. This is not a "social worker" issue because the discipline has proven to be unsophisticated in structural logic and systemic efficiency.
Simply put, social work designed a jacked up child welfare system so you folks defaulted on any authority in showing people you can change your own diapers. You blew it.
It's time empirical analyses stepped in; let the political scientists handle this...
I got your back, Jen.
Much love,
Blanche