LANSING, Mich. (WOWO) — Michigan court leaders are asking lawmakers to change how suspected child abuse and neglect cases are screened, saying staffing shortages, uneven funding and a centralized intake process are putting additional strain on the state’s child welfare system.

Members of the Michigan Association for Family Court Administration testified Tuesday before the Michigan House Oversight Subcommittee on the Child Welfare System according to WILX.

MAFCA President Dave Pelon and Vice President Thom Lattig told lawmakers that uneven funding has contributed to more at-risk children being placed in residential institutions rather than foster homes.

“Our residential programs, when they need more, they get more. But our foster homes do not have that same voice,” Lattig said.

Lattig also told lawmakers that the process through the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has become more cumbersome and restrictive in recent years, with multiple layers of policy and procedure sometimes slowing decisions involving children.

The association is also calling for more local involvement when reports of suspected abuse or neglect are initially screened.

Lattig and Pelon said decisions made through a centralized call center can prevent local officials from seeing information that might help them identify patterns involving a child or family.

“There’s a disconnect. Cases are screened out of the phone center and not making it to the local level,” Lattig said.

He said local caseworkers could make better-informed decisions if they had greater access to information gathered through the state’s centralized intake system.

“If at the centralized level, they’re just gathering the information and pushing it to the local workers, they would better know — have we had this family before? Are we aware of any siblings, any other familiar connections?” Lattig said.

The testimony comes as lawmakers consider a bipartisan package of legislation addressing several of the same concerns.

State Rep. Luke Meerman, R-Coopersville, who chairs the House Oversight Subcommittee on the Child Welfare System, and state Rep. Jennifer Conlin, D-Ann Arbor Charter Township, introduced three bills in late August.

House Bill 6296 would create a Youth and Family Justice Bureau and establish a statewide juvenile justice and child welfare training institute.

House Bill 6297 would require counties to immediately screen reports of suspected child abuse or neglect and determine whether an investigation is warranted.

House Bill 6298 is a supplemental appropriations bill intended to provide funding for the proposed bureau.

According to Meerman’s office, the legislation would redirect about $150 million in existing Michigan Department of Health and Human Services funding rather than increase the state’s overall budget.

Lattig told lawmakers the association is not asking for additional state spending.

“We are not asking you to increase the state’s budget. We would be asking of anything we do, that it would be reappropriated,” Lattig said.

All three bills are currently before the House Committee on Judiciary for further consideration.

The debate is part of broader scrutiny of Michigan’s child welfare system, which has faced questions about case screening, staffing and oversight for years.

The system came under particularly intense scrutiny following the 2005 killing of 7-year-old Ricky Holland in Ingham County.

Holland was living with his foster family when he disappeared in July 2005. His foster mother, Lisa Holland, was later convicted of killing him. His foster father, Tim Holland, was convicted for his role in concealing the death. Both remain in Michigan prisons.

The case raised questions about warning signs that may have been missed before Holland’s death, including concerns involving conditions inside the foster home and the child’s lack of school enrollment for an extended period.

More recent reviews have continued to raise questions about Michigan’s handling of child deaths and the effectiveness of oversight.

Previous investigative reporting found that the Michigan Auditor General determined the state’s Office of Family Advocate had failed to review 150 child deaths for systemic patterns.

Federal court oversight of Michigan’s Child Protective Services has also ended after years of monitoring, a development that prompted some advocates and judges to question whether the court supervision ended prematurely.

MAFCA officials say returning more information and decision-making authority to local officials could help address some of the concerns.

The proposed legislation remains in the committee process and would