In September of 2022, NPR hosted an interview with Sonia Noorman, CEO of WMPC, in honor of the transition from pilot to a 3-year contract with the state to manage the foster care. She shared about how WMPC was formed, what we do, and how we do it. Here are a few statements from the interview:
“We serve all children and families that are removed and placed into foster care in Kent County. Since we’ve started, we actually oversaw the placement and outcomes for approximately 2,000 children.
“We have a contract with the state of Michigan, and we receive a referral for every child that is placed through Kent County’s court system into foster care. Then we work with 5 foster care providers, and we work with them on determining the best placement for children, which first would always be relatives. So the department is always looking for relatives, and if they are not able to find them then we will continue the effort because it is really important for us that children stay with family.
We also are the fiduciary. So we pay for services both for parents and children, as well as to the agencies to administer and to actually provide the direct foster care service. And then we look at outcomes; we ensure that families get services. We actually create programs, and so that is an exciting part of what we can do in our community. We are very creative and collaborative and we want to hear from our stakeholders, our partners. We work really hard together to develop and fill gaps in terms of what js not available in the service array…
Listen to the entire 6 minute interview as Sonia discussed more about WMPC’s unique services and successes below:
