Michigan Couple Fights System to Save Children Falling Through CPS Cracks
After CPS failed to act on repeated warnings, a Michigan couple took matters into their own hands—exposing serious gaps in the state’s child protection system.
MARION, Mich. — Jason Luhrs and his wife never expected to become guardians, but when their niece and nephew were caught in a cycle of neglect and drug abuse, they had no choice but to act.
“It started with a social media post—she said she was suicidal,” Luhrs said, referring to his wife’s sister, the children’s mother. “That’s when CPS finally stepped in.”
For years, the family tried reporting the situation to Child Protective Services. Despite signs of mental illness and drug use, CPS brushed off concerns, citing “different parenting styles.” The children had food and shelter, they were told—that was enough.
Eventually, when the mother was found intoxicated and failed to pick her children up from school, the authorities acted. Jason and his wife were granted guardianship after the boy, then 14, revealed he had once found his father overdosed in a bathtub.
“There was no physical abuse, but the emotional trauma was real. He was sleeping with knives, scared for his life,” Jason said.
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Their battle wasn’t just with addiction—it was with a broken system. CPS in Osceola and Missaukee counties didn’t communicate. Jason documented every phone call and retold their story to multiple caseworkers who seemed unaware of prior reports.
“There’s no central database. One county doesn’t know what the other is doing. We had to push and push,” he said. “The only reason these kids are safe is because we were relentless.”
The children’s father, also struggling with addiction, declined custody. Their mother was later incarcerated and voluntarily signed over her rights.
Jason’s wife, a registered nurse, says the system needs a complete overhaul.
“In healthcare, I can pull up a patient’s history from any hospital. Why can’t CPS do that?” she asked.
Despite praising individual caseworkers for doing their best under impossible workloads, the Luhrs are calling for structural reform. They contacted state lawmakers but were told even they couldn’t access CPS case data due to confidentiality.
“If we didn’t step in, these kids could’ve ended up in the news for all the wrong reasons,” Jason said. “There are more children out there slipping through the cracks.”
The Luhrs’ story is a call to action: fix the system before more children are lost in it.
Thank you for exposing the failed DSS department CPS. It used to be called were investigated within 24 hrs. Mandatory that teachers, therapists, case workers, mental health professionals call in SUSPECTED abuse, then it became weaponized , hostile divorces using CPS to bring charges against a spouse, caseworkers legally obligated to investigate, FOC and early programs insufficient to address this weaponization of the department meant to protect children, using them in a divorce was just another symptom of the inability of the system to deal with abuse. Now we face abuse of our children on an institutional level, a governmental level with the indoctrination of and psychological abuse of the “Gender” issues. It has created depression, suppression, oppression and the inability to express themselves bc the neurological development is simply not there. They behave it, and proponents of this normalization of mental illness use that behavior to validate the truth that they want to create. Joyce and Rebecka are both 100% correct, the system keeps the innocent in the central system while the children who are being abused, those inflicting the abuse are able to con the naive untrained case workers. It is apathy, underpaid, seeing the worst of humanity for a 1st world country and typical behaviors seen, unfortunately, in most Federally run agencies. Kids do fall through the cracks, the workers are inept and training is easier. Few are the workers that do this because they care, easy are the divorce cases where abuse is really the party that is accusing the other party, another waste of time, money, resources. Since 1980 it has been a failed system and is yet another example of government corruption, bloat, and abuse.
This has been an issue for years. If they have time...it is their job to MAKE time. If they choose to do so, NOT an option. It is their job to do so. It's not the system that it broken it's the inept people doing the job who are broken. They have not grasped the fact that children are in trouble. Which is how children fall through the cracks and how they die. It falls on the caseworker who doesn't do the job they are paid to do. I thank Joyce for pointing that out. I have said that for years. Damn near close to 50 years.