Office of Recipient Rights Director Grilled By Michigan House Oversight Committee On The Child Welfare System

Office of Recipient Rights (ORR) Director Raymie Postema testified before the Michigan House Oversight Committee On The Child Welfare System Tuesday.  The subjects were the findings of the Michigan Office of the Auditor General's Performance Audit 391-0120-24 on the ORR:

https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/investigations/2026/06/02/agency-handling-protections-for-michigans-mental-health-patients-under-scrutiny/

https://www.house.mi.gov/Document/?DocumentId=69074&DocumentType=CommitteeMeetingMinutes

https://audgen.michigan.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/rs391012024-923483.pdf

https://www.senatormichaelwebber.com/webber-orr-testimony-fails-to-demonstrate-meaningful-change/

Agency handling protections for Michigan’s mental health patients under scrutiny
Office of Recipient Rights director testifies before lawmakers

LANSING, Mich. – The state agency handling complaints and violations for Michigan’s five mental health hospitals came under scrutiny again on Tuesday.

Office of Recipient Rights Director Raymie Postema gave testimony to and was questioned by lawmakers about what’s been done to improve patient care after an audit last Fall found protections for patients to be “insufficient.”

The Investigators at Local 4 have exposed a series of problems at the Hawthorn facility in Northville Township starting back in 2022.

The Hawthorn Center is the state’s only psychiatric facility for children.

In 2022, we uncovered that an unannounced active shooter drill was held there without letting employees know that it was just a drill.

Many people, including staff and patients, believed there was a real gunman and several called 911 fearing for their lives.

Since then, the Hawthorn Center has closed, been torn down, and a new facility is being built in its place. In the meantime, the children have been moved to the Walter Reuther Hospital.

The audit of the Office of Recipient Rights released last fall found that:

• Nearly 30% of complaints alleging abuse, neglect, serious injury, or death, were not retrieved or acted on until 2 to 12 days after being filed. The state’s supposed to respond within 24 hours.
• More than 10% of complaints lacked a date stamp, meaning it was impossible to tell if the state’s actions were timely.

“At the time of the audit, the staff were pulling complaints from complaint boxes that are in each one of the service units twice weekly. We have increased that to daily, other than weekends and holidays,” Postema said.

Since the audit, Postema told lawmakers that:

• Staff has been trained to date stamp documents when they receive them.
• The Office of Recipient Rights currently have 25 staff members and are looking to get funding to hire 2 more.
• They currently have a goal of transitioning their record-keeping to an electronic system.

Postema says things are improving, but Rep. Luke Meerman says families have a different perspective.

“I would say that somehow we have to sort of collectively try to do something different. Because, again, all we’re hearing from parents and people on the ground is that we’re getting less care.”

Sen. Michael Webber (R-Rochester Hills) released the following statement on Tuesday:

“It is very clear that the Office of Recipient Rights is failing to protect our most vulnerable seeking mental health care. Director Postema’s testimony today failed to demonstrate meaningful changes to restore public trust in the patient complaint system.

“I will not stop fighting until every family can be confident their loved ones are safe, those responsible are held accountable, and this agency can prove it can protect the kids in its care.”