When a complaint is filed with the Office of the Child Advocate (OCA), the Child Advocate's staff can conduct an investigation into Children's Protective Services (CPS), Foster Care, Adoption Services and/or Juvenile Justice when children are involved with these programs.
All complaints go through a preliminary investigation process where the Child Advocate determines if a full investigation is warranted and if so, an independent investigation into the complaint is conducted.
The OCA also conducts investigations regarding child death cases when there was an active CPS investigation, open services case, a rejected CPS complaint, open foster care case or closed foster care case in the previous two years. The OCA must conduct a review of MDHHS activities when a child dies in foster care unless the death resulted from natural causes and there were no prior CPS or licensing complaints concerning the foster home.
After an investigation is completed, the Child Advocate may present any relevant recommendations to the Governor, Legislature and the MDHHS Director if the Child Advocate believes that the results will improve Michigan's child welfare system.
The OCA is also here to provide information for families involved in Michigan's child welfare system. The OCA intake staff can provide insight on the system's processes and connect a caller with the appropriate resource.
The Michigan Office of the Child Advocate employs a multi-disciplinary team of analysts, administrators, investigators, and support staff, many with advanced degrees. Positions are filled by professionals with diverse fields of experience.
The Office of the Child Advocate (OCA) is tasked with making recommendations to positively effect change in policy, procedure, and legislation by investigating and reviewing actions of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), child placing agencies, or child caring institutions.
