The Michigan Supreme Court has released the results of a study that evaluated the Child Protection Mediation (CPM) process in Michigan as an alternative means of achieving permanency in child welfare cases.
Focusing on cases in Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Jackson, Marquette, and Traverse City, the report found that CPM improves time to permanency, yields high parental compliance and positive stakeholder perceptions, and improves judicial efficiency.
Participants in counties that used CPM reported higher “Satisfied/Very Satisfied” combined scores than those in traditional court proceedings.
“Our goal in child protection cases is always to establish safety and stability in a child’s life,” said Chief Justice Bridget M. McCormack. “Child protection mediation is a valuable and effective method to accomplish exactly that while also benefiting the family, the community, and the court.”
Permanency is defined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as “a legal permanent family living arrangement, that is, reunification with the birth family, living with relatives/guardianship, or adoption.”
Michigan mediation centers using CPM have proven to achieve permanency faster and more frequently than in jurisdictions that do not use it, the study shows, with the most common type of permanency being reunification with the parents.
CPM began in Michigan following the 1998 implementation of pilot programs as part of the federal Court Improvement Program and can be used at every stage of child protection proceedings. However, the report found that mediation is most often used during the pretrial stage, which results in better, speedier, outcomes for families.
The report was conducted by the Grand Valley State University College of Community & Public Service and School of Criminal Justice with input from MSC, regional mediation centers, and courts.
- Posted May 16, 2019
- Tweet This | Share on Facebook
Study - Mediation works in child protection cases
headlines Jackson County
- United Way gets FEMA grant - apply by Jan. 25
- Exit interview: Justice Markman's career withstood the test of time
- Can it get any worse than what we saw on January 6?
- ABA?Commission study: Why civil and criminal jury trials are disappearing
- Michigan Supreme Court unveils report aimed at closing the justice gap
headlines National
- Then-AG Sessions and DOJ were ‘driving force’ behind policy leading to family separations, report says
- Who will defend Trump in second impeachment trial? ‘He’s not going to get the A team,’ one prof says
- New Impeachment, Same Lawyers: House Judiciary Rehires Barry Berke & Joshua Matz for Trump's 2nd Trial
- Lawyer at Capitol Riots Is Arrested
- Over sharp dissents, court intervenes to allow federal government to execute 13th person in six months
- Petitions of the week: Three Second Amendment petitions and a Wiretap Act claim against Facebook