Capitol News

State representatives Jason Woolford and Luke Meerman have voiced their discontent following an audit report revealing that the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) failed to investigate 150 child deaths. The report by the Office of Auditor General highlighted substantive failures by the MDHHS's Office of Family Advocate, which did not review the cases of 150 child fatalities. Of 143 child deaths that should have been examined further, only 35 were investigated by the Office.

"We have a government trying to limit our citizen's freedoms and impose strict child-registration requirements on families, all while not doing their job to actually ensure children are being protected," said Woolford. "While the state continues to overreach into the lives of people who adhere to the rule of law, they fail time after time to help the kids who have been entrusted to their protection. For them to think that they could hide this abdication of duty from the public is egregious and demands a legislative response."

Both representatives serve on the House Oversight Committee, which holds subpoena power and aims to enhance government transparency and accountability. Woolford also leads the House Oversight Subcommittee on State and Local Public Assistance Programs, while Meerman chairs the House Oversight Subcommittee on Child Welfare System.

"We formed a whole committee devoted to fixing our state government’s highly defective safety net for children, and the audit report issued today shows exactly why that was necessary," Meerman stated. "As chair of this committee, I believe we have a responsibility to investigate severe failures like the ones committed by the Family Advocate Office and then use our insight to offer real solutions. Children, our society’s most vulnerable and innocent members, need the law’s protections more than anyone. There are few, if any, responsibilities that government has that are more important than this. As long as issues with our child welfare system persist, we will be working tirelessly to fix them."