Children & Families

Housing officials say they are on track to meet a Sept. 30 deadline to allocate most of the pandemic CERA funds intended to help struggling tenants. It’s part of more than $1 billion earmarked for Michigan, and may help limit evictions after a national eviction ban was struck down.

The funding is unique among Michigan’s resettlement efforts, but activists hope other counties will soon follow. There is a humanitarian and economic motivation to attract new refugees to the region.

Agencies say communities are welcoming refugees, but warn that it could be a struggle for many of them.

Washington stepped in again this week to extend a ban on evictions during COVID. But the latest extension is confined to areas with “high or substantial” infection, a status that is likely to shift week to week, from one geographic area to another.

A year after Grace’s story drew national attention when she was jailed for not doing her online schoolwork, outcry over the shackling of young people in court has resulted in a ban on the practice unless there’s a risk of physical harm or flight.

The pandemic moratorium is slated to end Saturday, which could exacerbate housing problems in a state that already has a shortage of affordable homes.

Starting this summer, eligible families are expected to get monthly payments, through expansions in child tax credits, to support the cost of raising kids.

Changes to tax policy buried in the American Rescue Plan could dramatically help the working poor, pushing a quarter of Michigan’s poor children out of poverty.

Child protection advocates warn that declining numbers of reported child abuse cases are in fact a red flag for widespread undetected abuse. With fewer children in schools or visiting their doctors, there are fewer opportunities for trusted adults outside the family to detect potential abuse.

As the new school year ramps up and the economic downturn of the COVID-19 pandemic continues, parents are having to make tough financial decisions. Nonprofits and social service agencies say they see families struggling to purchase materials for school, access child care and put food on the table.

The 15-year-old is now free from the court system. In a hearing, an Oakland County judge released her from probation after a caseworker said, “It is best for the family to move forward.”

Following an outbreak at a camp, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Thursday issued another executive order requiring masks for those older than 2. Child care officials say most already were taking similar precautions.

Although earlier this year prosecutors pushed for the detention of a Michigan high schooler during the COVID-19 pandemic, they have now repeatedly said they support sending her home to her mother.

At a hearing Monday, Judge Mary Ellen Brennan denied a motion to release a 15-year-old from a juvenile facility. “I think you are exactly where you are supposed to be,” Brennan said. “You are blooming there, but there is more work to be done.”

Attorneys for a 15-year-old sent to juvenile detention for not doing her schoolwork argued the teenager is not a threat to the community, contrary to a judge’s ruling. Now Michigan’s Supreme Court is stepping in.

After a ProPublica investigation, public officials are pushing for the release of a Black 15-year-old sent to juvenile detention after a judge ruled that not doing her online schoolwork violated her probation. A petition has thousands of signatures.

A 15-year-old in Michigan was incarcerated during the coronavirus pandemic after a judge ruled that not completing her schoolwork violated her probation. “It just doesn’t make any sense,” said the girl’s mother.

With American Indian Services closing on July 9, thousands of urban Native Americans in the Detroit area are scrambling to find new options for culture-based care.

Michigan’s coronavirus lockdown has abuse victims facing a hellish choice: Endure or flee to uncertainty of global pandemic. Many may be sticking it out, as calls for help have increased, but requests for shelter beds and to police are flat.

It’s hard to practice “social distancing” with dozens of people in one room. How homeless shelters are trying to protect residents who are already among the most vulnerable to serious illness.