By Mike Kruzman / news@whmi.com

The Livingston County Board of Commissioners approved a pair of grants and behavioral health funding for the Juvenile Court.

County Commissioners approved the resolutions in support of the juvenile court as part of their consent agenda, Monday night. The first resolution authorized the court to submit an application to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Child and Parent Legal Representation Grant Program and accept funding for a second year. According to memo from Juvenile and Probate Court Administrator Deborah Shaw the grant provides federal funding to support high-quality legal representation in child protective proceedings where a child has been placed in foster care. Funding is based on expected expenditures, which in this case is expected to be around $31,000.

Commissioners also approved a resolution authorizing the submission of a second grant, this time to the MDHHS Michigan Committee on Juvenile Justice for year 2 funding of the Racial Ethnic Disparities Data Collection Grant program. The grant will provide funds of approximately $61,000 to support a comprehensive integrated data collection system for juvenile probation. No county match or cost sharing is required.

In a third bit of news from the juvenile court, Commissioners approved cash matching and funding form behavioral health managed care services, specifically, the Wraparound program. Wraparound is a collaboration between mental health agencies, the courts and the health department that provides comprehensive behavioral health managed care services for children who meet enrollment criteria. The program cost is $248,000, half of which will be reimbursed by the state Child Care Fund. The Community Mental Health Partnership of Southeast Michigan Substance Abuse Coordinating Agency will contribute $40,000, and the Livingston County Health Department will contribute $5,000 to offset the Court’s contribution.