In September, a report from the Michigan’s Office of the Auditor General brought attention to concerns within the Office of Recipient Rights.
The Office of Recipient Rights is the agency that handles complaints, violations, for the state’s five mental health hospitals. The audit found that protections for Michigan’s mental health patients were “insufficient.”
Some of the problems reported in the audit were how violations were collected, the Office of Recipient Rights taking too long to respond to complaints, and concerns over conflicts of interest. This includes the Hawthorn Center, the state’s only psychiatric hospital for children.
An unannounced active shooter drill was held at the Hawthorn Center in 2022. Since then, the Hawthorn Center has been torn down. Children have been temporarily transferred to Walter Reuther while a new Hawthorn Center is constructed.
---> Read our full report on the audit and see MDHHS’ statement on the audit here.
‘What parent with a severely disabled child with special needs has that kind of time?’
Natalie Anwar is the mother to two autistic boys. Her children have spent hundreds of days in the state healthcare system over multiple visits.
Anwar has made complaints about her child’s treatment to the Office of Recipient Rights.
In one case, her concern was over a fungal growth on her child’s head. She sent pictures, and emails, complaining about her son Jaden getting an infection and no one noticing.
“The complaint that I filed in June doesn’t even get addressed until November, so it’s well after the time frame that they were supposed to comply it fell through the cracks,” Anwar said.
In the end, Anwar said she was told “there’s no preponderance of evidence that any abuse or neglect has taken place.”
So, what happened next?
“If you have time and energy, then you would file an appeal -- but what parent with a severely disabled child with special needs has that kind of time? So the complaint just sits there, and I mean, it’s over, it’s done. And you just, you figure out a way to keep them from going back there,” Anwar said.
Here’s what the data tells us
The Investigators at Local 4 went through three years of data published by the state of Michigan in its Recipient Rights annual reports.
Data was available for the fiscal years of 2022, 2023, and 2024. This is the time period of Oct. 1, 2021 through Sept. 30, 2024.
MDHHS told Local 4 on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025, that there was an “error” in the 2023 data and removed that link from its website.
Because the 2022 and 2023 data were in the same report, all that data has been removed from the state’s website. Local 4 is sharing the numbers as they were initially reported and will update this story if new data becomes available.
The state added a link to the semi-annual report for 2025, but while there is data in the report, there is not any data available for state-run psychiatric hospitals.
Update (Oct. 10, 2025): MDHHS sent corrected 2023 annual report data. The data matches what Local 4 initially reported and no changes to our coverage are necessary.
According to MDHHS, there were “errors in how some data fields were displayed." They have corrected the error.
MDHHS also stated why 2025 data wasn’t available for state-run hospitals. “The Mental Health Code requires annual data to be submitted by state psychiatric hospitals by March 31 under MCL 330.1754(6)(o). Under MCL 330.1755(5)(j), Community Mental Health service providers and licensed psychiatric hospitals are required to report data semi-annually.”
MDHHS included a statement answering our question as to who oversees the annual reports. “Information is reported by Community Mental Health Service Providers and licensed and state psychiatric hospitals to the MDHHS Office of Recipient Rights staff who compile and publish the annual report as required by MCL 330.1754.”
In the original reports, there were a total of 508 complaints filed at Hawthorn. There were 184 investigations and only 31 were found to be substantiated. That means 153 investigations into complaints didn’t find enough evidence to substantiate the complaint.
Abuse and neglect reports require the Office of Recipient Rights to conduct an investigation. In other cases, the office can choose to implement interventions.
During that time 93 abuse complaints came in, all were investigated, and only 14 were substantiated. There were 18 complaints in the neglect category, all were investigated, and only 5 were substantiated.
During that time period, there were seven suspensions, 18 employees left the agency and the investigation into them was substantiated, six employees were terminated, and eight had written reprimand.
Why are so many investigations unsubstantiated?
People who know the system say the complaints are not substantiated because of poor documentation.
Marianne Huff, the CEO of the Mental Health Association in Michigan, compared the situation to “the fox guarding the hen house.”
Parents fear their children may face retaliation if they report concerns. Which means they don’t complain -- or they don’t pursue complaints.
Anwar said it was useless to stand up against the state.
Senator requests legislative hearings
Sen. Michael Webber, who first asked for the state audit, is now requesting legislative hearings to investigate how MDHHS is being run.