Ennis Center for Children helping to change the foster care system
(CBS DETROIT) - May is National Foster Care Awareness Month.
CBS News Detroit sat down with the president and founder of the Ennis Center for Children.
The organization has eight foster care and adoption centers and services about 550 kids per day. The center is working to help change the foster care system overall for the better.
Founder Rob Ennis knows what it's like to be in foster care. He said at the age of seven he ended up in the foster care system himself.
"I promised myself then I was going to work with kids," said Ennis.
He made good on that promise and opened up foster centers around Michigan.
Ennis says that while the centers are necessary and helpful, he wants to see sweeping changes in the foster care system that will help families permanently.
"Schools get money, right? The courts get paid, right? We get paid for the kids, right? So, all these systems get their money from a different funnel, from a different silo," Ennis said. "What I'd like to do is to break those silos down into a plan. And that's what we're trying to do now in Genesee and Saginaw County. To be able to put services collectively so the school knows what I'm doing. They can do that and coordinate it. Foster knows what's happening, the coordinator knows what's happening, and digital ties, by using computers that we can get information."
Ennis says because of his many years of working with foster kids, he believes focusing more on building stronger family environments for them could reduce the number of kids in the foster care system.
"I believe that we could probably keep 25% of those kids home if we gave services to the family at home and helped them get back on their feet, and for lack of better words, teach them and support them to how to deal with their children," said Ennis.
Ennis adds that even with support, some children will still need to be in the foster care system.
"People can make it with their kids at home. Not all of them. There are some people too far gone," said Ennis. "If I can be colloquial, for that. But so many people are going to get help if services were wrapped around them," said Ennis.
According to the state, there are about 11,000 children in foster care in Michigan.