LANSING —The Michigan Family Independence Agency (FIA) is looking to remove itself from the business of educating children in its ten treatment facilities. According to a Detroit Free Press article, the FIA has received "seventeen inquiries expressing an interest in taking over some or all of the programs."

Larry Miesner, acting director of the FIA’s Office of Delinquency Services has recognized that the welfare agency’s mission is not education—it is helping troubled youth. "We’re in the business of treating youth . . . we’re not primarily educators." Karen Smith, spokeswoman for the FIA concurred: "problems of abuse and neglect and family assistance" should be the focus of FIA personnel.