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Court orders closed adoption records be released to state auditors

Currently, the Adoption Code allows the release of adoption records when a plaintiff seeks a court order "for a good reason."
The Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency is headquartered in Cadillac Place on West Grand Boulevard in Detroit.(Photo: Paul Egan, Detroit Free Press)

LANSING — State auditors will get access to the confidential adoption records they seek for their review of child placement programs, the Court of Claims ruled Thursday, a decision that should allow the delayed investigation to move forward.

The Office of the Auditor General is delving into the performance of the public and private agencies that provide foster care and adoption in the state. Auditors hope to evaluate the effectiveness of the Department of Health and Human Services' licensing and monitoring procedures.

To do so, auditors said they need access to records that DHHS officials had contended were off-limits without court approval. The Court of Claims granted that approval Thursday.

Although they ordered the records' release, the court sided with DHHS, stating in its opinion that adoption records are private. The Adoption Code allows their release when a plaintiff seeks a court order "for good cause shown."

The court pointed out that state statutes governing auditors and adoptions are at odds. Auditors generally have the authority to demand records, while the adoption code prohibits disclosure of confidential records without court involvement.

But the court saw no reason why auditors have not met that the adoption code's "good cause" threshold, Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Diane Stephens wrote in the opinion.

"The Adoption Code — and the attendant restrictions on disclosure of records — was intended to 'protect and foster an effective scheme of adoption,'" the ruling states. "In light of that stated goal, the Court finds that allowing disclosure of the records at issue in this case for the purpose of conducting an audit constitutes good cause."

Auditors will lose access to the records at the close of the audit.

The dispute started in 2016, when auditors told DHHS officials they wanted to review case file information for 160 children as part of their audit of public and private child placement programs. DHHS provided the auditors 124 files, contending the remaining 36 were confidential and prohibited from disclosure.

Auditors subpoenaed DHHS for the remaining records, contending they were necessary to complete their review and under the office's constitutional authority. They filed a complaint with the Court of Claims when the health department objected to the subpoena.

DHHS' initial denial of the records delayed auditors more than a year, Office of the Auditor General spokeswoman Kelly Miller said. Auditors at first expected the report to be finished in 2017, and now expect its release date to be early next year.

Auditors have not received the records yet. The office's legal team is evaluating the ruling, Miller said.

Throughout the court process, DHHS officials argued auditors don't have the authority to review confidential adoption records without court approval. They said any employee who releases records without such a court order could be liable for a misdemeanor charge, court records state.

The Office of the Auditor General's review of adoption agencies is one of three recent or upcoming audits of DHHS' child welfare programs. This month, auditors released a scathing report about Child Protective Services investigations. Auditors are also investigating CPS worker caseloads, which some alleged have been faked in order to bring down the case-per-worker average.

On Thursday, the House Oversight Committee fielded testimony from the auditors who completed the September review of CPS investigations and uncovered numerous issues that Chairman Rep. Joseph Graves, R-Linden, said could have put children in danger.

The committee plans to question DHHS officials during a meeting next week.

Contact reporter Carol Thompson at (517) 377-1018 or ckthompson@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @thompsoncarolk.

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