LANSING, Mich. (WZMQ) – Michigan lawmakers grilled the director of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) during a tense oversight hearing Tuesday, raising concerns about child welfare cases, departmental growth, and the impact of budget cuts on essential services.
Representative Jay Deboyer, the Chair of the Oversight Committee, highlighted the department’s massive growth, noting that more than 1,000 DHHS employees now earn over $100,000 a year, a nearly 500% increase since Director Elizabeth Hertel took office in 2021.
“When government employees with wonderful salaries and benefits are saying that they need more money, while children are living in tents with lice on a mattress on the ground, there’s not an ounce of sympathy for that,” Miller said.
The hearing also focused on the handling of high-profile child welfare cases. Lawmakers questioned Hertel about instances where children were returned to unsafe homes. In one case, a three-year-old from Flint with Down syndrome was returned to his mother just two days before his death.
“I just can’t understand how a timeline could work like that,” a representative said. Hertel responded that decisions are made based on available information at the time, and the department reviews every tragedy to determine if policies were followed and what improvements can be made.
Legislators also discussed the department’s efforts to expand wraparound services and prevent unnecessary child removals. Hertel explained that family resource specialists are being deployed county by county, but some families still lack ongoing support.
“If we have the ability to come in and have an eligibility specialist or a family resource specialist working, we’re able to open a case and continue to work with those families through those cases to make sure they’re getting the supports that they need,” she said.
The hearing concluded with a broader call from legislators to address systemic issues in the state. Representative Wagala emphasized the scale of the problem: “We have 35,000 homeless students in Michigan… any reduction to services is going to make helping families more difficult.”
The DHHS director acknowledged the challenges and stressed the department’s ongoing efforts to improve child safety and service delivery, while legislators signaled continued oversight and potential policy reforms.
