Why Michigan Needs More Foster Homes

State struggles with foster home shortage
Economy, placement rules contribute to problem
Catherine Jun / The Detroit News

A shortage of foster homes in Michigan has forced agencies to institutionalize children and separate thousands of siblings, state officials and child advocates say.

This comes as the state prepares to launch a campaign to recruit new foster parents.

That campaign is named "Child Abuse Propaganda Month Extension"

There are very simple reasons why the state is running short on foster homes.

1. Medicaid Fraud in Child Welfare:  The Attorney General does absolutely nothing with its Medicaid Fraud Control Unit to end the billions in child welfare fraud;

2. Poverty is considered as child abuse and grounds for removal to foster care.  As poverty increases, so does the number of children who enter the system;

3. The improperly and unnecessarily removed from their homes in order to meet child placing agency quotas.

5. There is no transparency, accountability or oversight in Michigan's child welfare system.  The individuals in this article are very familiar with this fact.

Poverty is not a crime.

To make the historic story of foster care and adoption short and sweet, allow me to cost-effectively sum up the policy for the Industry of Human Trafficking:

• Poverty is abuse and neglect. Abuse and neglect is a crime.   
• A parent(s) who is poor abuses and neglects the child.  
•  The state must protect the welfare of the child.   
• The state never questions the work of God.  
•  Foster care and adoption residential institutions are in the name of God.   
• People and corporations make tax write-off financial contributions to the institutions.   
• Children get medicated; pharmaceutical companies get profit; social workers get jobs. 
• The longer a child is in foster care; the more jobs are sustained.   
• Sustaining and creating jobs saves money for the state. 
• Foster parenting is a job. 
• The state and the institutions are given financial incentives and receive financial rewards for each child transitioned into adoption.  
•  Michigan needs to make budget cuts.  
•  Michigan needs to create more jobs.   
• Foster parenting is significantly more economical than an institution.  
•  Adoptive families receive financial rewards for each child adopted.   
• The state no longer is financially responsible for the child.   
• The state is no longer financially responsible for the birth parent.   
• Everyone contributes to the economy.   
• A stronger economy eradicates poverty.   
• Poverty is a crime.  
•  When you stop poverty, you stop abuse and neglect.