In 2014, the Michigan Legislature provided a solution to safely reduce reliance of out‐of‐home placement—the In‐Home Community Care Grant.

Established by the Michigan Legislature in Fiscal Year 2014, the In-Home Community Care Grant provides an incentive for rural counties to save money by reducing out-of-home placements and reinvest cost-savings into highly effective community-based programs.

The $1 million grant, which is housed in the Department of Human Services budget, awards resources to rural counties for new community-based juvenile justice programs. As of March 2014, four counties have been awarded and additional proposals are being reviewed. Until now, these counties have had few community-based options, forcing them to rely only on out-of-home placement, even for low-risk offenders.

• Cost savings – County grantees are required to track cost effectiveness and document any savings from reduced expenditures on out-of-home placements.
• Outcome Tracking – The new projects all include evidence-based practices that are proven to reduce reoffending and effectively treat the needs of youth and families. Participating counties are required to track and report outcomes to the state.

Expanding the In‐Home Community Care Grant to $5 million could give larger counties a chance to improve their local juvenile justice services.

The Governor’s FY 2015 budget recommends continuing In-Home Community Care Grant for $1 million. A relatively small expansion of the Grant to $5 million – less than 2% of the Child Care Fund – could make a great impact to all Michigan counties, not just rural areas. If the program were to expand statewide, Michigan economists estimate a savings of up to $44 million in just one year!

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Posted by MCCD on Monday, March 17th, 2014 @ 9:20AM
Categories: In the News, In-Home Care Incentive
Tags: juvenile justice, Michigan, United States, juvenile justice system, Community Solutions, justice system, Community Solutions Toolkit, Michigan's budget, In-home care