(WWJ) The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) has created a task force to tackle the challenges of systemic racism in the state’s child protection system.
They hope to “transform it to make family well-being and preventing abuse, neglect and trauma the top priority of department of Children’s Services,” according to a Department press release.
MDDHS is partnering with non-profit MPHI to establish the Child Welfare Improvement Task Force to address racial disparities in child welfare.
Children of color enter foster care at higher rates than white children and stay there longer, according to MDHHS. Furthermore, MDHHS said they are more likely to be placed in institutional facilities than family homes.
31% of Michigan’s children are children of color. However, they make up just over half of all children in foster care, MDHHS said.
The task force will:
-Be responsible for reviewing the adequacy and effectiveness of strategies identified by the Children’s Services Agency
-assessing whether the agency is implementing the identified strategies
-seeking necessary community support—and legislative support—to implement effective strategies
-Oversee the planning, the implementation, and evaluation of this new approach
-Provide policy and practice recommendations to improve equity in group care of children who are removed from their home
“As well-intentioned as we are, our current system perpetuates injustices and keeps us from meeting our core values,” JooYeun Chang, Executive Director of MDHHS’s Children’s Services Agency, said in a release. “This is primarily driven by systemic issues and we must then address systemic racism and bias wherever it exists.”