An autistic teenager waited every day for the bus to take her to school, but day after day, her ride never came. The student's mother couldn't get answers from Detroit Public Schools, so she contacted Ruth to the Rescue.

Janine Butts is a special-needs student at Cooley High School. Her mother said the routine of riding the bus is very important to Janine.

"She is not happy. She wants to ride the bus because that's part of her socialization process," said her mother, Janet Baxter.

Baxter drove the girl to school every day, even though the woman had paperwork promising door-to-door service.

Baxter said she tried to find out why the bus had not picked up the teenager, but got no satisfactory answer.

The school's transportation director told Ruth to the Rescue that budget cuts meant the department had fewer employees and consolidated bus routes.

"This causes us to reconfigure the routes entirely, which is something we haven't done in the last few years," said Dale Goby, executive director of the school's transportation department.

Tuesday morning, the bus did drive Janine to school.

"I'm glad she's happy, and I'm sorry it took so long for us to get our act together. But we're working on that very diligently," Goby told Ruth to the Rescue.

Parents who drive their children to Detroit Public Schools because of bus-routing difficulties can be reimbursed for their mileage.

To find out more about the reimbursements, call (313) 945-8600.

See the Detroit Public Schools Transporation Policy