ALL TOO COMMON: Michigan has one of the nation’s highest rates for child abuse and neglect, according to the most recent state figures. Child welfare officials and advocates have theories as to why, but there’s no consensus explanation. (courtesy photo/used under Creative Commons license) The number of abused and neglected Michigan children rose in recent […]
Department of Human Services
Posted inChildren & Families
Legal immunity worries child advocates
The fear of getting sued if a foster child attempts suicide or theft prompted private social service agencies to push in the waning days of the lame-duck session for a law granting them limited immunity to lawsuits. They got their wish late in the night of the last session of the Legislature last week, even […]
Posted inChildren & Families
Some Michigan welfare recipients get reprieve
When the long-awaited cash appeared in her Bridge card account June 29, Elizabeth Weaver had her list ready. She made an appointment to repair her car, which had been leaking coolant for months. The 31-year-old bought shelves, and filled them with toilet paper and toothpaste, things she can’t buy with food stamps. “I need to […]
Posted inChildren & Families
More families set to lose welfare assistance
Needy families who kept their cash assistance after last fall’s massive welfare reform shouldn’t get too comfortable. Almost 500 more families per month are projected to lose cash assistance during the second year of reform, which begins in October of this year. According to Gov. Rick Snyder’s budget proposal released Thursday at the Capitol, 7,130 […]
Posted inChildren & Families
27 Mich. counties dodged welfare cuts
How big of an impact has welfare reform had on you and your neighbors? It depends on where you live. According to the Department of Human Services, 15,799 fewer families were receiving cash assistance at the end of 2011 than were receiving assistance in September, before the state imposed a lifetime limit on welfare. Here’s […]
Posted inChildren & Families
Welfare reform leaves families without a net, and off the radar
Three months after the launch of an aggressive welfare reform, Michigan has kicked more people off the dole than expected and saved the state millions of dollars. How the approximately 15,000 families cut off from cash assistance are surviving, though, isn’t as clear. We may never know. The state isn’t monitoring the impact on those […]
Posted inChildren & Families
Daily life gets harder for three families
Nearly 16,000 Michigan families were banned from cash assistance last fall, in the biggest one-day reduction of welfare recipients in the state’s — and possibly the nation’s — history. Did those families blend into the work force? Did they lose their homes? Did they find help from charities, churches and nonprofits? Over 12 months, Bridge […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Nelson invigorated by challenge of DHS caseloads
Cindy Nelson doesn’t take work home with her in the traditional sense, but it doesn’t mean that work — and the people and their tear-jerking stories that comprise it — just sits at the office waiting for her to return at 8 a.m. Even though she has been promoted from off the front line and into a […]
Posted inChildren & Families
Michigan zigs, the nation zags
Michigan is clamping down on food stamp recipients while many other states are easing requirements. A report produced by the Michigan League for Human Services circulating among Lansing policymakers reveals that a number of states have dropped asset tests for food stamp recipients in the wake of a tough economy. According to the report (no […]
Posted inMichigan Government
11,000 Michigan families confront the unknown
The roles Sharon Matthews has fielded so far are hardly the stuff of cakewalks: high school dropout; single mom; gunshot victim. But her toughest role yet begins next month: Guinea pig. The 41-year-old Detroit resident and her 15-year-old daughter are among the 11,000 Michigan families banned from welfare, as the state of Michigan begins to […]
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