Michigan
Legislature Passes Bill Providing for Pilot Foster Parent
Resource Centers
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STATE OF MICHIGAN
91ST LEGISLATURE
REGULAR SESSION OF 2002
Introduced by Reps. Vander Veen, Richardville, Tabor, Meyer,
Voorhees, Birkholz, Stewart, Toy and Hart
ENROLLED HOUSE BILL No. 5242
AN ACT to amend 1994 PA 203, entitled łAn act to establish
certain standards for foster care and adoption services for
children and their families; and to prescribe powers and
duties of certain state agencies and departments and adoption
facilitators,˛ by amending section 8 (MCL 722.958).
The People of the State of Michigan enact:
Sec. 8. (1) The department shall promulgate rules under the
administrative procedures act of 1969, 1969 PA 306, MCL 24.201
to 24.328, to ensure the comprehensive, high-quality training
of foster care and adoption workers. It shall consult and may
contract with colleges and universities, child placing
agencies, and professional organizations for the design and
implementation of the training. The training shall stress
cultural sensitivity, interagency cooperation, and respect for
individuals and families.
(2) The department shall produce or contract with another
person to produce a directory of children under the
jurisdiction of the department who are available for adoption.
The department shall make copies available throughout the
state to ensure that interested individuals have reasonable
access to the directory.
(3) The department shall establish and maintain a registry of
adoptive homes to be used as a central clearinghouse for
information about prospective adoptive parents. The department
shall accept information from a prospective adoptive parent
who has received a pre-placement assessment with a finding
that the individual is suitable to be the parent of an
adoptee. The information shall be filed in a form and manner
that will permit it to be readily accessible to biological
parents or child placing agencies seeking adoptive homes for
children. The department shall charge a prospective adoptive
parent an initial fee of $100.00 for maintaining the
information in the registry and a renewal fee of $50.00 for
each year the prospective adoptive parent remains in the
registry. The department shall provide information in the
registry without charge to biological parents or child placing
agencies who request it.
(4) The department may establish as pilot projects foster
parent resource centers. Each resource center shall provide at
least support for and coordination of respite care and
assistance to foster parents in obtaining day care. Resource
center staff shall pursue other activities designed to promote
permanency for children, particularly children with special
needs, such as support aimed at retaining foster parents. The
department may fund the pilot foster parent resource centers
using money appropriated to the department for the current
fiscal year. After the pilot project has been in operation for
2 years, the department shall evaluate the pilot project on
its organization, effectiveness, and success. The department
shall report the results of this evaluation to the
legislature, including in the report the number of foster
parents who utilized the particular resource center and the
top 10 concerns raised by those foster parents and how those
concerns were handled.
This act is ordered to take immediate effect.
Clerk of the House of Representatives.
Secretary of the Senate.
Approved
Governor.
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