CAI’s Administrative Director, Elisa Weichel, ’86 (BBA), ’90 (JD) Quoted in Detroit Free Press on Foster Youth Federal Benefits

SAN DIEGO (April 22, 2024) – University of San Diego (USD) School of Law Children’s Advocacy Institute’s (CAI) Administrative Director, Elisa Weichel, was quoted in the Detroit Free Press on Michigan’s practice of taking foster kids' federal benefit money and reimbursing itself for their care.

According to the article, in Michigan, the benefit money received by DHHS amounted to $3.2 million in fiscal year 2022-23. The department says 100% of the funds are being used to reimburse the state for the cost of caring for kids in the child welfare system.

“We interpret that to mean that 0% of the children’s benefits are being used in furtherance of their best interests,” Elisa Weichel, administrative director of the Child Advocacy Institute, wrote in an email to the Free Press.

The article states that a spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said it uses state and federal resources to provide the best possible care for Michigan children, including those in foster care.

"When a child is placed in an out-of-home situation with MDHHS, income or funds available to the child are secured and used to reimburse the public taxpayer dollars that provide payment for the child's care. If the child's total income exceeds the cost of care, the excess is saved for the child," the spokesperson wrote in an email to the Free Press. "This is common practice among many states."

“Children are rarely made aware of the fact that they are entitled to these benefits and are rarely, if ever, notified that the state or local jurisdiction is using their money to pay for their care,” wrote Jessica Heldman, associate professor in child rights at the Children’s Advocacy Institute, in an email to the Free Press.

CAI, with support from funders, has been leading a multidimensional campaign to eradicate this practice nationwide. A well-established leader on this issue, CAI is leading reform efforts at the federal, state, and local levels to protect the rights and preserve the benefits of foster youth. CAI issued a 50 state report card entitled, “Foster Care or Foster Con? Preserving the Federal Benefits of America’s Most Vulnerable Children.” According to the report, Michigan received an F for its effort to protect foster youth’s benefits.

To read the full article, visit Detroit Free Press.

To learn more about CAI’s campaign to stop this practice, please visit our Preserving Federal Benefits of Foster Youth website.

About the Children’s Advocacy Institute

The Children's Advocacy Institute (CAI), founded at the nonprofit University of San Diego School of Law in 1989, is one of the nation's premiere academic, research, and advocacy organizations working to improve the lives of children and youth, with special emphasis on improving the child protection and foster care systems and enhancing resources that are available to youth aging out of foster care.

In its academic component, CAI trains law students and attorneys to be effective child advocates throughout their legal careers. Its Child Advocacy Clinic gives USD Law students three distinct clinical opportunities to advocate on behalf of children and youth, and its Dependency Counsel Training Program provides comprehensive training to licensed attorneys engaged in or contemplating Dependency Court practice.

CAI's research and advocacy component, conducted through its offices in San Diego, Sacramento, and Washington, D.C., seeks to leverage change for children and youth through impact litigation, regulatory and legislative advocacy, and public education. Active primarily at the federal and state levels, CAI's efforts are multi-faceted—comprehensively and successfully embracing all tools of public interest advocacy to improve the lives of children and youth. To support CAI’s work, please visit law.sandiego.edu/caigift.

About the University of San Diego School of Law

Each year, USD educates approximately 800 Juris Doctor and graduate law students from throughout the United States and around the world. The law school is best known for its offerings in the areas of business and corporate law, constitutional law, intellectual property, international and comparative law, public interest law and taxation.

USD School of Law is one of the 84 law schools elected to the Order of the Coif, a national honor society for law school graduates. The law school’s faculty is a strong group of outstanding scholars and teachers with national and international reputations and currently ranks 30th nationally among U.S. law faculties in scholarly impact and 41st nationally in past-year faculty downloads on the Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN). The school is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. Founded in 1954, the law school is part of the University of San Diego, a private, independent, Roman Catholic university chartered in 1949.