Protecting kids: Child welfare efforts lag in Michigan Left with a broken foster care system, Gov.-elect Snyder needs to fix it fast

Protecting kids: Child welfare efforts lag in Michigan

Left with a broken foster care system, Gov.-elect Snyder needs to fix it fast

Here's a priority Gov.-elect Rick Snyder likely didn't expect to be on the top of the stack when he takes over Jan. 1: The state's child welfare system is still failing, according to a federal monitor, and the new governor won't have a whole lot of time to fix it. Snyder's best approach would be to quickly build a working relationship with the monitor and the state judges and lawyers charged with protecting kids.

A Federal Court lawsuit by a New York-based child welfare watchdog organization, citing alarming deaths of children in Michigan's foster care system, resulted in a consent agreement with the Department of Human Services, which oversees foster care and adoption. The state agreed to fix what's wrong with the system.

Court Judges Association, the Family Law Committee of the State Bar and others have been conducting numerous study groups on how to improve the handling of child welfare cases. They might have some useful advice for the DHS officials and the federal monitor on how to achieve the goals of the consent decree in a more cost-efficient and effective way.

No one involved in the system would argue that it can't be improved. The Snyder administration would do well to cast a wider net for help in making that happen.