Michigan Child Welfare Prevention and Family Supports

Michigan is undertaking reforms of its child welfare and family wellbeing system aimed at creating safer environments for children in their homes and enabling more children who enter protective care to be placed with family. The GPL is helping strengthen and increase access to prevention and family preservation programs, advance relative-first strategies for children in care, better address mental health for youth, and strengthen the quality of residential programs in collaboration with provider partners. This technical assistance creates lasting capacity to monitor results with data, deploy performance improvement strategies internally and with providers, and use contracts to advance strategic goals.

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Michigan Strong Beginnings Pay for Success

Michigan sought to expand prenatal and postpartum support in order to reduce the likelihood of negative health outcomes for new mothers and their children. With pro bono technical assistance from the GPL, Kent County is expanding comprehensive nurse home visiting services to every Medicaid-eligible, first-time mother to provide prenatal care, breastfeeding support, parenting and life skills-building, and additional services as needed. Assessed by a rigorous evaluation, the program is helping to reduce preterm births and rapid repeat pregnancies for new moms.