Michigan Gives More Power to Steal from Foster Kids

Michigan Gives More Power to Steal from Foster Kids

So many questions.  So little time left in this Legislative session.

Here you have an honorable Michigan House Bill which, I guess, is an attempt to address foster children being victims of identity theft.

Great, but the real issue is:

Caseworkers guarding SS#'s of foster children

Q:   "Who has access to foster children's Social Security Numbers?"

A:   Caseworkers.

Allow me to clear the air before further examination.

This Bill gives the power and authority to Caseworkers to do annual credit checks on a child's credit history.

Mind you, the Bill has no referral mechanism to the Office of Attorney General to investigate how the foster child's information was breached nor is there any mandate to prosecute.

No training requirements specified for the caseworkers or child placing agencies have been even slightly mentioned.

Identity theft is a federal crime.  Considering the fact that foster care is a federally funded program, one would think there would be some form of collaboration with federal authorities to, at least, intervene and assist in the prosecution, and in certain circumstances, recovery.

There is not even a whisper about generating an exclusionary database to revoke licenses, sanctions, prosecution or recovery, for individuals who engage in fraud against these foster youth.

So now, within this Bill, there will be annual credit reports, which will be billed to some unidentified funding source, which more than likely be Medicaid, to generate stock piles of more documentation to be lost in the paperwork shuffle of a foster care case, with multiple individuals having undocumented access to the files,

There is no mention of Michigan Children's Institute and its role as the sole, legal guardian for more than 3,000 in its care.

So why is it that there was the need to even introduce a Bill such as this?  Is foster care identity theft that rampant where there is such a need for intervention?

If child welfare was not such a secret operation, there could be much more collaboration and reduction in numbers of children who are in state care.

Foster care Social Security Numbers can be used in more ways than with credit to commit fraud.

Watch this video to find out Medicaid Fraud in Child Welfare and why Michigan is letting the  "fox guard the hen house":

Michigan Foster Child Credit Check

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Learn more: BEVERLY TRAN: Michigan Gives More Power to Steal from Foster Kids http://beverlytran.blogspot.com/2015/09/michigan-gives-more-power-to-steal-from.html#ixzz3nAeiGj5D
Stop Medicaid Fraud in Child Welfare 

Michigan Prepares to Launch God's Economic Model to End Child Poverty

Yes, Bill Johnson has slithered to another secret division of DHS. Johnson has abdicated to his trusty side-kick, Bruce Hoffman, who has taken over the throne of omnipotence.

I am guessing, as I really do not feel like finding out where he went at this particular moment, that he is doing something with child welfare contracts.

Now, how did I come to this conclusion?

Well, the Madame Maura Corrigan has stepped down as DHS Director after successfully running a game on the federal court monitor that "all is well" in Michigan child welfare.

All is not well, not even close because it seems the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has picked Michigan, under the Madame's leadership, to launch a pilot model for privatizing the entire system of child welfare, or more specifically, foster care. The pilot city is Grand Rapids and it has a long, nasty, sordid history of snatching kids via bible thumping.

When I say "bible-thumping" I specifically mean the christian child placing agencies which are all Michigan non-profit corporations.

Michigan Legislature just seriously attempted to slam a Bill down the throats of the people under the guise of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).  This Bill, mirrored from its namesake federal Act, was originally used as the backbone for the Michigan Parental Rights Resolution which was introduced for an Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.  I worked on the construction of the Bill.
 
The RFRA federal case was centered on a Child Protective Service case of parents using certain plants with hallucinogenic properties in their traditional, indigenous religious ceremonies.  Parenting was transmogrified into a religious belief overnight. 

The Tea Party began to take roots as a family economic movement and I was there to witness.  It was built off the desperation of parents who had their children legally kidnapped.  These families became powerful catalysts for the extreme right wing to, predatorially, push through their "christian" subversive agendas.  Look who launched the Tea Party on "God's economy" (Michele Bachmann's reference to children @ 4:30):


As few may not know, it takes 3/5ths of the States 7 years to have a referendum to amend the Constitution.  The Parental Rights Amendment did not survive but RFRA did.

RFRA will take the same course as the Parental Rights Amendment, mark my word.  Also mark my words when I say that it just might steam roll the national level and become an Amendment as there are a series of states which have already signed on.

RFRA is not alone in its ride to becoming an Amendment.  The Hobby Lobby decision opened the flood gates for legal challenges to "religious freedom" as corporations, legal persons, now have recognized religious beliefs.

Michigan has introduced, sine die, major changes to its Non-Profit Corporation Law.  From a quick overview, I see it is now easier for a not-for-profit to set up and transfer to a for-profit.

This got me thinking that timing of the shift in Michigan child welfare leadership is not a coincidence. 

Michigan spends $1B on charter schools but fails to hold them accountable

Medicaid Expansion + RFRA + Non-Profit Corporation changes +Privatization = Corporate $$$

Charter schools do not provide special needs education but child welfare does and the money comes from Medicaid.  The federal A+PLUS Act would give direct access to CPS in viewing school records, with no oversight, to generate more child welfare cases by providing special needs services.

Every corporation is about to hire a child and no one will stop this from being a nationally diffusable model.

As of this writing, the Michigan Bureau of Adult and Children Licensing no longer has oversight of Grand Rapid child placing agencies.  Actually, no one has oversight as the pilot program of privitization has been launched.  The only way to file a complaint/grievance is through the state court because, remember, a corporation is a person, too, but soon with protected religious beliefs and the ability to dissolve at the drop of a hat to a for-profit.

Children under the auspices of the state (ie. foster care, residential institutions, juvenile justice, court child welfare cases) are not calculated in the national child poverty numbers.

This is God's economic model to reduce child poverty.

#Time2AuditGod

After 8 years Michigan has not addressed racial inequities in foster care

Well, here we go again.

Michigan is up to its old tricks by coming out with a report to cover up all the billing fraud, ineptness of administrative oversight and what they call "racial inequity" in foster care.

With just about all of the same who worked on, and were suppose to get it right, they come together again, with shock and awe renewed, on the exact same crap they came out with 8 years ago.

For your viewing pleasure, I submit the first report on "racial inequity" in foster care from 2006.

Equity: Moving Toward Better Outcomes for All of Michigan's Children 2006 by Beverly Tran

Now, one would think that 8 years later they would have ameliorated, or at least, made an effort to address the issue of the overrepresentation of children of color in child welfare, but of course not, that would be too much like admitting they have no idea how to execute the recommendations made in the report.

The recommendations of the 2006 report was to find more money to fix the problem, which was, unmentioned in the report, that it was just hit with a salaciously horrific state audit of fraud.

Here is the result of "wow-we-did-not-know-this-was-a-problem" report findings:

Key Findings and Recommendations of the Michigan Race Equity Coalition by Beverly Tran

It should be noted that not one original parent, not one foster kid who survived, participated in this report.

Nothing in the findings identified the extreme-reaching "one-drop-rule" labeling technique when sticking a kid, or parents, in a racial category.

Too bad the state will not, or cannot, investigate agencies like Black Family Development to find out why so many Black kids are in the system.

By the way, what exactly is "Black Family Development", as opposed to, obviously,  I assume there must be the counterpart called "White Family Development"?

The reason wht there are racial inequities in foster care is because the system was designed that way.

At least the report did recommend steering away from using poverty as a reason to put kids in the system.

Learn more: BEVERLY TRAN: After 8 years Michigan has not addressed racial inequities in foster care http://beverlytran.blogspot.com/2014/05/after-8-years-michigan-has-not.html#ixzz333fTTPrL
Stop Medicaid Fraud in Child Welfare 

Report finds racial disparity in Michigan's foster care system

Here is a fun fact as to why the report found racial disparity in Michigan's foster care system:

It was designed that way!

Just ask Bill Johnson, Superintendent of the Michigan Children's Institute.

Report’s Findings

Key findings from a report from the Michigan Race Equity Coalition in Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice:

• Minority kids were 2.1 times more likely to age out of foster care than white children. Hispanic kids were 1.1 times more likely, American Indian 1.4 times more likely, and black children 2.3 times more likely to age out of the system.

• Black children were 1.6 times more likely than white children to live in families investigated for abuse or neglect.

• Children from minority families were 1.3 times more likely than white kids to be removed from their families’ homes due to abuse and neglect.

Michigan’s minority children are more than twice as likely as their white counterparts to age out of the foster care system without being adopted or returned to their families, a new report shows.

Children of color also are more likely to be removed from their families for abuse and neglect, according to the report from the Michigan Race Equity Coalition in Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice, to be released today.

“This gives us verifiable data that policymakers, legislators really like,” said Michigan Supreme Court Justice Mary Beth Kelly, who co-chaired the coalition effort with public policy advocate and former legislator Lynn Jondahl. “That is really what moves decision-makers faster.”

Those behind the report hope it will help improve early intervention and community-based services for families, win more funding for child abuse and neglect prevention and lead to better training for child welfare workers to help them discern the difference between poverty and neglect.

About 13,000 kids in Michigan are in foster care at any given time, according to the Department of Human Services. Using data from 2013, the coalition’s report compares the number of minority children with the number of white children in care. It found:

•Minority kids were 2.1 times more likely to age out of foster care than white children. Hispanic kids were 1.1 times more likely, American Indian 1.4 times more likely and black children 2.3 times more likely to age out of the system.

•Black children were 1.6 times more likely than white children to live with families investigated for abuse or neglect. Kids from Hispanic or American Indian families were slightly less likely than their white counterparts to live in families investigated for abuse or neglect.

•Children from minority families were 1.3 times more likely than white kids to be removed from their families’ homes due to abuse and neglect.

That’s troubling, said Jane Zehnder-Merrell of the Michigan League for Public Policy. She served as data coordinator for the project.

“That suggests we are not doing enough upstream to get these kids safe or keep these kids safe in their own homes,” she said.

“A lot of these kids get pulled into the child welfare system because that’s our response rather than helping their families with economic stability,” she said.

She said erosion in assistance for poor families and school funding in recent years has made the situation more precarious for many families.

“People are really struggling to maintain any kind of stability for their kids,” she said. “It used to be that schools were the bedrock in the community. That’s not the case anymore, particularly in our most desperately poor cities.”

Kelly said she’s encouraged by some recent changes, including a 2011 law that allows foster kids who meet certain criteria such as working or attending college to receive continuing assistance until they are 21.

The state also has boosted the number of foster care caseworkers.

Jondahl said a pilot program in Saginaw County involving courts, child welfare and juvenile justice systems provides a model for reducing the disproportionate numbers.

He also said an advisory panel will be created, meeting regularly, to check on progress in meeting the recommendations in the report.

“It won’t be just a report to put on the shelf,” he said. “That, to me, makes all the difference in the world.”

Court revokes Michigan Children's Institute guardianship

Bill Johnson, Superintendent of MCI

Bill Johnson, Superintendent of the infamous Michigan Children's Institute, has filed an appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court because the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that the paternal grandmother of four children was granted guardianship as his guardianship was revoked.

I do believe this is the first time the Court has revoked the legal powers of MCI.

Out of respect of the people involved, I will not publish the MCI appeal at this time, but I will be using a few choice demonstratives when commenting on the legal arguments.

Daniel Beaton, the Assistant Attorney General who always represents Bill Johnson, is a rather nice man but can lie his ass off in a courtroom.  He is good.  That is why Bill Johnson always wins.  But this time is a different story.

The grandmother applied to for adoption and was denied but applied for legal guardianship and was approved upon appeal.  Brilliant.

Bill Johnson went to the Court of Appeals and was thrown out.

Now, he goes to his buddy Maura Corrigan's (former Chief Justice of Michigan Supreme Court and current Director of Department of Human Services) old stomping grounds, the Michigan Supreme Court to cry the blues about the beginning of the end of his omnipotent reign.

Bill Johnson wants to cry the blues that he was not party to the case and had his guardianship stripped.

First of all, the state was just released from federal monitoring of relative preference placements, so Bill is violating a federal settlement agreement.  

Second, there is no law which states that a person who has guardianship must adopt.

Third, Bill Johnson completely ignored the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children.  He overrode the decision of another state governor.

Bill Johnson is the legal guardian for more than 7,000 children.  How can he possibly know what the best interests of the children are without third party knowledge?  

Michigan Children's Institute is a 3 man circus that is an absolute waste of taxpayers dollars.  It is about time judges of Michigan's bench and start making decisions.  Let the people who actually care for kids be the guardians and tell Bill to go far away.

Bill Johnson is one of the last paleo-conservatives of chattel law.  I expect him to be denied his petition for leave to appeal.

Michigan Court of Appeals Overturns Wayne County Judge’s Decision to Terminate Parental Rights

Regarding In the Matter of Clarmont, Minors; a respondent appealed as of right termination of her parental rights under MCL 712A.19b(3)(c)(i), (g), and (j). The Court of Appeals opinion is dated February 19, 2013. The lower court is the Wayne County Juvenile Division.

First, the respondent had an expected prison release date within a span of only five months. In establishing grounds for termination, the petitioner wholly relied upon the respondent’s criminal history and substance abuse (which occurred before the commencement of the child protection hearings); the fact that she was imprisoned; and also the difficulties she would face after her release date.

However, In re Mason held that imprisonment with a possible release date in less than two years plus the respondent having a criminal history are not alone sufficient grounds for termination under MCL 712A.19b(3)(c)(i), (g), and (j) except under specific circumstances not implicated in this case. In Mason, the Court found significant factors like the respondent maintaining contact with his children through the exchange of cards through the mail; the respondent also engaged in prison services; and he lined up housing and employment for after  his release from imprisonment.

In the instant case, the respondent was required to have a relative sponsor in the state to acquire an interstate compact and transfer of her probation to Michigan. Due to this, the respondent had not yet arranged housing that would enable her to care for her children. Furthermore, an unknown factor was whether respondent would be able to find post-release employment and housing.

Yet, similar to Mason, the respondent completed all available prison services including parenting classes. Moreover, the respondent sent monthly letters to her children. A corrections officer even testified that the respondent did not exhibit any serious behavioral issues in prison—and that she earned all available good time. Notably, the respondent had a nonviolent criminal history that was not directly related to her parenting ability as well. Only limited evidence was introduced by the petitioner pertaining to the respondent’s parenting ability prior to incarceration. Moreover, the caseworker admitted to not evaluating the respondent’s current parenting skills either.

The Court of Appeals found the termination premature under Mason. The trial court clearly erred in finding statutory grounds for termination. Therefore, the case was reversed and remanded.

Also, the Court stated the children should be temporary wards of the court while reunification or termination efforts are ongoing with more information required concerning the respondent’s ability to provide proper care to her children in a reasonable time after her release from prison. Additionally, the Court noted that separation related to the imprisonment weakened the child/parent bond, and that the children would benefit from permanence. Therefore, the lower court did not clearly err in its best-interest determination.

With nearly one hundred years of combined experience, the attorneys of Kronzek and Cronkright, PLLC, aggressively protect the parental rights of clients all across the lower peninsula of Michigan, including Lansing, Grand Rapids, Muskegon, Port Huron, Flint, Detroit, Saginaw, Kalamazoo, and more.

Is privatizing foster care bad for kids and costing you more money?

Am I the only one screaming for federal intervention?

Is privatizing foster care bad for kids and costing you more money?

Ask Bill Johnson.

(WXYZ) - A grandma has been fighting the state to get her grandkids out of foster care for years. A great aunt has been trying to do the same for her niece. But both have been met with strong resistance—and it may be a matter of money.

The state pays private agencies to handle most foster care adoptions. By law, they are supposed to make placing foster children with extended family members a priority. But 7 Action News has found some cases where relatives say the agencies may be putting profits ahead of policy – and this can cut kids off from family forever. 

When Lori Scribner found out her grandchildren were put in foster care after the state declared their parents unfit, she came forward to claim them. 

“I have been telling them I want them all along,” says Scribner. 

But she also was told that she needed a bigger home for her four grandkids. So she bought a five-bedroom ranch with a pool. 

“That’s one of the things they love most is swimming,” says Scribner. 

Then she was told she had to earn more money. The registered nurse came out of semi-retirement and went back to work full-time.

“So I could support the kids. I understood that,” Scribner says. 

Scribner also says she has spent $50,000 in legal fees and other costs fighting for her grandkids. But she still faces the prospect of never seeing them again. 

“There was nothing I could do that they would let them come,” she says. 

Micky Gordon says she’s been fighting a system that seems set on breaking family bonds. The Department of Human Services (DHS), and the private agency it contracts, approved another couple to adopt her great niece who’s in foster care. 

“I feel like I have been living under a bully mentality," says Gordon, who is a social worker in Oklahoma, and is very familiar with foster care. She and her husband have foster-parented dozens of kids and adopted two of them. 

“My credentials are impeccable,” insists Gordon, who says she has spent about $30,000 in legal fees fighting to adopt her niece and has no plans to stop. 

“I’m not going away. She’s coming home to her family,” says Gordon.

The law is on their side.

“Both federal and state law require that the agency and the court give priority to relatives seeking placement of children in foster care,” says attorney Vivek Sankaran, who heads the Detroit Center for Family Advocacy and is an expert on child welfare law.

Sankaran says, “Systemic road blocks are created, license, home-study requirements, criminal background checks take time. By the time these checks are done, the child is living somewhere else.”

Scribner and Micky suspect this is about more than just bureaucratic red tape

“I think a lot of it has to do with these agencies earning money,” says Scribner.

DHS contracts with private agencies to handle foster care adoptions. But DHS wouldn’t talk to 7 Action News because Scribner’s and Gordon’s cases are being litigated.

The private agencies also wouldn’t talk about their cases, citing adoption confidentiality laws. But they did tell us that a child’s welfare is their top priority.

Scribner and Gordon aren’t buying it. They point to the current contract between DHS and the private agencies. The agencies get between $5,400 and $11,500 per adoption. The faster they get a child adopted, the more money the agency receives.

“We’re moving way too fast into adoption, close that deal, show me the money,” says Gordon.

Gordon and Scribner have something in common that would mean less money for the agencies. Both live in other states. For out-of-state adoptions, private agencies in Michigan get $3,500 tops.

“The whole system is set up to give the children away, and pay other people to take care of them when family is right there,” says Scribner.

In fact, the state would have saved more than $330,000 had the private agencies placed the children in Scribner’s and Gordon’s cases with them.

The state gives foster and adoptive parents $14.24 a day to care for a child until they turn 18-years-old. Scribner and Gordon say they told the agencies they didn’t want the subsidy, they just want their loved ones.

“I told the adoption worker with the agency, look, we’re not asking for your money,” says Gordon.

A recent study put together by a former county DHS director shows that it costs more for the state to pay private agencies to manage foster care than to have the state do it.

The report shows that for a state case worker to manage 18 foster care cases, it costs about $174,590 a year. That’s compared to about $297,087 for a private agency worker to handle the same case load.

Meanwhile Scribner and Gordon are not giving up.

“There are days you just sit and cry because you don’t know what’s happening,” says Scribner. “You don’t know anything about the kids and the more that they stonewall you, the more you think something must be wrong.”

In Scribner’s case, court records show the private agency had their recruited couple apply to adopt her grandkids—while, at the same time, they were telling Scriber that

the children were not available for adoption.

“The only thing they will tell you is you can’t have them,” says Scribner.

DHS admitted in court records that Scribner is a “loving, caring, nurturing and suitable care-giver,” but that the kids should be adopted by the agencies recruited couple since the children had already bonded with them.

Attorney Sankaran says he has seen agencies drag out the placement process and then argue it’s in the best interest of the child to stay with the recruited family.

By the time these checks are done, the child is living somewhere else and then bonding and things of that nature are brought up as the reason to keep kids away from family,” says Sankaran.

Bonding was the key reason in both Scribner’s and Gordon’s cases for not letting them have their loved ones.

“Do you think the agency purposely delayed this process?” Catallo asked Gordon.

“It certainly does appear that way,” says Gordon 

To be clear, a judge has the final say, but rarely goes against a DHS recommendation. And children can be cut off from family forever. 

“I want the kids to know that we fought and we tried everything to get them that we could,” Scribner says through tears. 

After 7 Action News contacted DHS about Scribner’s and Gordon’s cases, Scribner got a letter.

It says DHS is now reconsidering their decision to deny Scribner adoption of her grandkids. The letter also says it is looking at new information and will issue a new decision in 30 days.

Gordon’s hearing to challenge DHS’s decision is still ongoing.

We’ll stay on these stories and tell you the outcome of both.

Beverly Tran Nominated As Michigan Child Welfare Advocate The Year

NOMINATE BEVERLY TRAN:

MICHIGAN'S

CHILD WELFARE 

ADVOCATE 

OF

THE

YEAR

Beverly Tran

It looks like we have another child abuse propaganda campaign going on over here!

That's right folks.  Since it looks like there is going to be a significant influx of kiddies into the foster care system beginning October 1, 2011, ole Maura Corrigan has revved up the campaign to justify Medicaid fraud in child welfare.

Jim Novell is giving out the awards to those who advocate for child welfare?  Well, it is only proper to nominate me.  Yes, that's right.  Jim and I are dear friends, going all the way back to 2001.

Since it is an obviously a minor oversight, I felt compelled to make this minor correction by pointing out that Jim forgot to include a category for community advocates, as commonly referred to by law.

More than likely, Jim and Maura did not include this category for there is only one person from the community who arduously advocates for child welfare.  Me.

I encourage each and everyone on my fans to nominate me.  It really does not matter which category you choose, just nominate me.   Let them know that Beverly Tran is on a mission...

Michigan Foster Care Review Board Child Welfare Awards

NOTE: Whenever it asks for address, always list my cyber address:  http://beverlytran.com  and you can take it from there.

Feel free to include my email: tranbeverly@gmail.com  and number: 313-312-5195

The Morbidity of Child Abuse Propaganda

The Wayne County Juvenile Court, the infamous Lincoln Hall of Justice, is changing its policies.  Isn't that sweet.  It is now saying "judge" must sign the orders for removal of a child.

I am quite sure Kelly Ramsey, Referee and Board Member of Child's Hope over there at University of Michigan Dearborn, who was removed from the bench and put behind the desk in the capacity of head honcha, far away from the purview of the public, is pretty pissed right now as she was the lead person who encouraged rubber stamping of judges and even referees.

What I find as a gross morbidity of child abuse propaganda is the entire concept of judicial oversight.   People have forgotten who was the top dog in Michigan of the courts.  Maura Corrigan.  And where is Maura now? Girlfriend did a lateral shift right over to the Michigan Department of Human Services to do damage control of the gross morbidity of child abuse propaganda which allows and encourages Medicaid fraud in child welfare.  Brilliant.

The grossest morbidity of all is found in the minds of the people who have not even considered what has happened to the children and original parents who have been victim to rubber stamping and generation of false reports to the courts.  Considering the fact the it is only in Wayne County that the Attorney General prosecutes these cases, you would think they would know better than to allow rubber stamping to go on in the court.  

Then, you know the Michigan Attorney General went on to fight these rubber stamps all the way up to the Supreme Court where Maura "Cash Cow" Corrigan presided over these cases.  You really do not have to guess how she ruled because most of them never saw the light of day.

The results of rubber stamping are termination of parental rights and Medicaid fraud.  The gross morbidity is that nothing will happen to anyone except the children.

I encourage everyone to contact Referee Kelly Ramsey and thank her for her dedicated work in promoting the gross morbidity of child abuse propaganda.... and make sure you tell her beverlytran.com sent you.

Child's Hope

The Child Abuse Prevention Council of Out Wayne County

19000 Hubbard Drive. Suite 264. Dearborn MI. 48126. 

P: 313-583-6401         F: 313-583-6402

office@childshope.org

Kelly... I'm on a mission...

The Action News Investigators broke the story about how Wayne County Juvenile Court rubber stamps orders that allow the state to take kids from parents. Now, the court is changing the policy so that a judge must sign the order before a child is taken away. The change came just one day after the highly-publicized Maryanne Godboldo case in which a judge scofffed at the order used to remove her child. LK: http://legallykidnapped.blogspot.com/#ixzz1WvIcVoze