Believe it or not.

In Michigan, judges are advocating for changes to the state’s child protection laws. The reason is that the state is creating too many legal orphans, by terminating parental rights in a record number of cases.

But academics at the University of Michigan are arguing that the current laws are just fine. The problem, from their perspective, is the judges and the attorneys, untrained and underpaid, respectively.

Interesting statistic though.

Ninety-seven percent of termination of parental rights cases taken on appeal in Michigan are upheld.

That fact tends to support the proposition that Michigan judges know the law and generally apply it correctly.

So why does Michigan have so many orphans resulting from legal judgments? And what is to be done?

Perhaps there is a flaw in the Michigan laws, that can be seen better from the trenches of the bench than the ivory tower…

Read more in this Detroit Free Press letter to the editor from judges: Judges well-trained in child law.