School Transfer Proposal May Cut Down On 'Ghost Children'

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 08/14/2025) School districts would be blocked from transferring children's records to new schools without written confirmation that the child has been enrolled there, under a bill Oakland County's top public safety officials see as removing a current loophole for hiding child abuse and neglect.

In front of the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday, Sen. Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield) explained how his SB 492 responds "to a horrific tragedy that played out in my district." In February of this year, deputies with the Oakland County Sheriff's department discovered three children – aged 12, 13 and 15 – who had been left alone in a Pontiac home by their mother in 2020 or 2021.

"They were found living in squalor, in soiled clothes, sleeping on pizza boxes and likely hadn't left the house in four or five years," Moss said. "The mother of these children years ago told their former school that they would be enrolling in another school."

He said years ago, the mother had the children's permanent student records sent to another school she indicated they would be attending, disenrolling them from their current school.

"But the students were never enrolled in the new school, and thus no school or school district maintained responsibility for them showing up after that point, and that's the last time they were heard from, and that was about five years ago," Moss said. "Had the students been enrolled in the transfer school and then just not show up, law enforcement would have been dispatched to check on the welfare of those students."

Ultimately, he described that present-day law allows students to be disenrolled from one school before being enrolled in another, calling it a "loophole."

Wednesday's testifiers were Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard – who's served in the role since January 1999 – and Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald, a Democratic attorney general candidate ahead of 2026.

Bouchard called the conditions the children were residing in "completely deplorable," with garbage piled a foot high, non-working toilets, mold and human waste.

"Our deputies actually had to help them walk out of the house because their toenails were so long they physically had a challenge walking," Bouchard said. "When these children's mother withdrew them from the school or asked for the transcripts to be sent, there was no follow-up or safeguards in place to ensure they were actually enrolled elsewhere. They simply vanished from the system."

He said they didn't fall through a crack, but a cavern.

McDonald said the mother is being charged with three counts of first-degree child abuse, and is awaiting a circuit court pre-trial. She noted that the kids had phone access and the mother would drop off food, and sometimes, but "mostly not," would hand off other supplies.

Of Oakland County's 170,000 public school youths, McDonald said about 2,000 of them have been identified as truant because they have more than 10 unexcused absences. However, her office did not have the same ability to write to the students' households when it came to the three children who were not enrolled in their new school.

"This term of ghost children . . . where did they go? And this law is actually going to finally address that, and I firmly support it," McDonald said. "The bill, I hope, is an important first step and an ongoing process to ensure educators and parents have the tools to ensure every child is receiving the education and care they deserve."

For the 2024-25 school year, according to MI School Data, more than 1.4 million students were enrolled in a public school – 2,509 students fewer than the prior school year. This past year's number was also 72,166 students less than during the 2019-20 academic year, when the COVID-19 pandemic transpired.

"We do not do a great job in Michigan of keeping track of our kids. This bill will certainly help, but until we can . . . count and compare live births to school enrollment, whether it be public school, private school, home school . . . until we are able to keep track of these kids, my concern is that we will hear more stories like this," said Senate Education Chair Dayna Polehanki (D-Livonia). "That's my big goal for the rest of my time, if I'm lucky enough to be in office, we've got to do better on chronic absenteeism."