LANSING — Today, the state auditor general’s office published its audit results of Michigan’s Child Protective Services (CPS), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services. The audit found CPS repeatedly failed to perform criminal history checks, to contact mandatory reporters, and to perform investigations within required times. The audit also found many investigators with the state agency reported fearing for their safety during field investigations. State Rep. Henry Yanez (D-Sterling Heights) is the sponsor of House Bills 6038 through 6042, introduced in May and also introduced in the 2015-2016 legislative session, to expand laws designed to better protect home health care workers including CPS employees. Laws protecting CPS employees were enacted in 2001 after the 1998 murder of Macomb County CPS worker Lisa Putnam by members of a family she was assisting. In response to today’s audit finding, Yanez released the following statement:
“The auditor general’s findings are frightening, and we need to act now to make sure that CPS workers have the tools they need to do their job safely. It’s no secret that this administration’s budget priorities are not with our most vulnerable children and adults, and that instead they have tied their hands by making it nearly impossible for many to even qualify for assistance they need. Now Republican leadership’s lack of attention is putting our kids at risk. For the last two sessions, I have introduced legislation to expand Lisa’s Law to better protect CPS and home health care workers, yet the Republican majority has failed to move my bills. It’s time to quit playing politics and endangering the lives of our kids and the people who are trying to help them.”