Michigan Votes Forum

Introduced in the House on March 1, 2005, to revise the language of a law that requires the state to investigate cases of severe physical injury to a child requiring medical treatment or hospitalization. The current standard is an injury that “seriously impairs the health or physical well-being” of a child. The bill would change this to an injury that requires medical treatment or hospitalization and seriously impairs the child's health or physical well-being

The vote was 104 in favor, 4 opposed and 2 not voting

(House Roll Call 516 at House Journal 88)

Click here to view bill details.

This is a good law. It restricts the overreaching, second-guessing social services abuse that we read about so often these days. Yes, a child should be removed from a family where his life is in danger due to neglect, or abuse. But the "well-being" standard has been abused and should be removed. Parental freedom to raise children should always come before some vague "state" or "society" interest. Unless the child is in imminent physical danger of death at the hands of the parents, leave him alone. As a further point, ANY medical treatment decision should ONLY be left up to the parents. We should not have doctors forcing blood transfusions for those whose religious beliefs prohibit them. Silver nitrate for newborns should not be a state law. Vaccinations have caused medical problems; parents should be informed of the benefits and risks and be free to make their own decisions without being second guessed by a bureaucrat or even a physician.

I have been following this for quite some time and I feel that this will help reduce the cost to the State of Michigan for all the wasted cases against innocent families and the terror they felt by the Gastapo tactics used to destroy their lives by inept and corrupt DHS Workers.

It is time that they changed the definition of child abuse and neglect. There are several Child Advocacy Groups that have stories of the FIA caseworkers wasting the tax payers money in order to make a case to better serve themselves concerning job protection. Not only do they create these cases for job security but for bonuses as well. For every child they remove and place in a foster home they receive 2,000 to 4,000 for each child and another 10,000.00 per child if they are adopted. This is funded not only by tax payers but by state and federal funding as well. In the mean time these families are being permanetly seperated and destroyed. What has happen to family values in the state of Michigan. 68 children have died since 2004 while under the protection of the state. It is time that there is a clear definition on child abuse. I believe the caseworkers should be held accountable for their actions especially if they are considered conspicous and arbitary.

I have a grandson that has been in the system for the past three years. Our son has been fighting the system and is awaiting a response from the Supreme Court. In the mean time my husband and myself have asked on numerous occassions to take custody of our grandson. Only to the dismay of FIA they have chose to ignore our requests, due to they have a foster family that is willing to adopt. It has taken us exactly three years to receive an Adoption packet. We had to make some calls and get the caseworker's supervisor within her region involved in order to receive the packet. Now we are told that it will be considered a Competing Adoption with the foster family. Since when does foster families come before biological families within the fifth degree to adopt. We have passed all the necessary requirements set by the state in order to adopt. But because of the misdeeds by the caseworker, assistant prosecutor, and the court not allowing us to file pleadings in his court regarding this open case, we are now told because our grandchild has been in the foster home for three years they have equal rights. I beleive if the misdeeds would not of occurred this would of been over in August 2005. To add to our story the Circuit Court Judge ordered our son to be the biological father, then the Department of Human Services appealed to the Court of Appeals and the order was reversed. How can they enter into a Paternity case, I understand the child was made a ward of the state. But the DNA results showed 99.9998% he was the father and we had the mother's ex-husband testify that he was not the father and there is the Rebuttal of presumption. What more can we do? This is only one case that exisits in the State of Michigan. Talk about deception and the lengths they will go in order for job security and bonuses. All we have set out to do is reunite our grandson with his biological family. We had the first year visitation, until they realized this family was seriuos about obtaining custody of our grandchild then the visits stopped.