The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has launched an online tool to help link children in the juvenile justice system with appropriate care more quickly and efficiently.
The new bed management tool is meant to be a central database with up-to-date information about where space is available in residential treatment centers statewide. It also provides more information about the types of treatment those facilities offer so they’re best aligned with a child’s needs.
“We need to be able to match the individual with the services and the residential program,” said MDHHS director Elizabeth Hertel. “And we also like to have youth as close to home as possible, because being able to see their families or their loved ones can be an important part of that therapeutic treatment."
Hertel said that before, workers with placement agencies had to call individual facilities to get the information available in the dashboard. “This will give the placing agencies an opportunity to see in real time placements that are available across the state,” she said.
Hertel called the tool a major step toward dealing with a chronic problem: children languishing in Michigan’s juvenile detention centers until bed space can be found. “This is significant,” she said. “Being able to have everybody have access to the same information at the same time will make a huge difference.”
There are currently 99 “child caring institutions” in Michigan that serve children who are there for court-ordered treatment. The state has two “secure” treatment facilities for juveniles — one in Escanaba, and a newly-opened center in Macomb County — that have around 100 beds combined.
