The Michigan Court of Appeals has vacated a trial court’s order terminating the parental rights of an incarcerated father, finding that the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services made no reasonable efforts toward reunification.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services violated the court rules in this termination of parental rights case when, at the father’s request, it did not produce video recordings of interviews conducted with his minor children, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled.

The Court unanimously overruled In re Estate of Schroeder, 335 Mich App 107 (2020), which had held that probate courts cannot consider Medicaid-related circumstances until after a formal eligibility determination is made.

The Michigan Supreme Court has vacated a Court of Appeals decision that affirmed the termination of a father’s parental rights, sending the case back to the appeals court for reconsideration after the father files a supplemental brief.

The Court reversed the trial court’s finding of aggravated circumstances because under MCL 722.638(1)(a), a court may bypass reunification and consider termination of parental rights at the outset only when a parent has already abused the child or the child’s sibling, not when there is anticipatory abuse or where the sibling is not biological.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services was wrongly ordered to return or destroy the plaintiffs’ stored blood spots and data that had been collected under Michigan’s newborn health screening program, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled.