Going to Lansing – June 23, 2026
Families and Veterans Committee
June 23, 2026
RE: House Bill 5163 (proposed substitute H-1)
In support of HB 5163 first let me say …
The largest neglector and/or abuser of children in Michigan is …the State of Michigan.
I offer the following for consideration as an addition to redefining Michigan’s definition of child abuse and neglect.
When is child neglect or abuse not child neglect or abuse?
The answer should be …when the alleged abuser or neglector have themselves been neglected or abused, especially when that neglect and abuse was at the hands of the State of Michigan.
What is Kelli Bryant’s story? – the Pontiac mom convicted of welfare fraud and fined $29,000 in restitution for ‘seeking the financial means’ to feed her children. Was she abused and neglected? Don’t we need to know this – not just that she is competent to understand the nature and concept of the criminal proceedings ahead of her?
What am I talking about? Prenatal Alcohol Exposure.
The State of Michigan’s Child Welfare Program has been under Federal Oversight for over 20 years for failing to care for Michigan’s most vulnerable children for over 50 years – ever since the first MI foster child with ‘failure to thrive’ was diagnosed with the newly named disorder – Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS).
The State of Michigan has done nothing substantial to prevent the preventable mental disabilities caused from the prenatal exposure to alcohol. Yet it continues to participate in the sale and distribution of the most damaging teratogen (developing brain destroying toxin), for ‘profit’, or what it assumes to be ‘profit’, without adequately warning parents of the real dangers of consuming alcohol while making babies.
In my book …that constitutes neglect – and abuse.
Included in my testimony is a two minute, A.I. generated response to the question: As a Michigan legislator, what should I know about prenatal alcohol exposure?
Jim Casha
Tillsonburg, ON, Canada
519-403-4590
The Writes of A Man, for ALL Humanity 