Michigan Radio’s State of Opportunity team has been selected as a winner of the 2015 State Bar of Michigan Wade H. McCree Award for the Advancement of Justice.
The Michigan Radio team of Jennifer Guerra, Sarah Alvarez and Sarah Hulett were recognized for “Finding Home: A Documentary about Foster Care in Michigan.” The documentary, originally broadcast in October, 2014, investigated improvements made to Michigan’s foster care system, which oversees the care of over 13,000 children and has been under federal oversight since 2008. The series also looked at the difficult situations faced by children in the foster care system, the role of the law and the courts in the system, an overview of the state’s child welfare system, and legal and legislative efforts needed to update and modernize laws surrounding broken adoptions in the foster care system.
The McCree Awards recognize Michigan journalists who foster greater public understanding of the values of our legal and judicial system, and “…disclose practices in need of improvement and encourage legal and legislative efforts to update and modernize our laws, courts, and law enforcement agencies.” The award is named after distinguished Michigan attorney Wade H. McCree, who served as judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals and Solicitor General of the United States.