LANSING – In a move to improve Michigan's foster care system, State Representative Barb Byrum (D-Onondaga) today announced that her plan to place more foster children with relatives when possible passed the House of Representatives. The plan also provides a preference for placement with foster families of the same religion.
"The experience of leaving one family and joining another is already traumatic and stressful for children," Byrum said. "My plan aims to ease that transition as much as possible by placing children in homes with similar traditions. This also will help create fewer problems if children are eventually reunited with their parents."
The plan would require a child entering foster care to be placed with a relative if a fit and willing relative can be located. It would also assist Department of Human Services employees in efforts to locate relatives for potential foster placement.
The plan also would provide a preference for placement with families of the same religion as the child. This part of the package was inspired by a situation in Dearborn several years ago in which a couple's children were placed with families of a different religion. Ahmed and Rehab Amer were accused of abuse, and their children were taken from them and placed in foster care. When Ahmed and Rehab were cleared of all accusations, the cultural differences between the Amers and the foster families their children had been placed with made reunification with their children difficult.
"Foster care in Michigan has changed, and our laws must keep up with those changes," Byrum said. "This plan will ensure that our children are placed in homes that are more suited to their needs."