LANSING, MI – State Representative Gina Johnsen (R-Portland) welcomed Ryan North, founder of One Big Happy Home, to testify before the House Families and Veterans Committee yesterday on a new approach to improve outcomes for children in Michigan’s foster care system.

The presentation introduced lawmakers to a nationally recognized training model that equips foster and adoptive parents with trauma-informed tools to better understand and meet the needs of children in their care. Developed by North and his wife, Kayla North, One Big Happy Home has successfully trained families, schools, and churches across the country to build trust, promote stability, and reduce placement disruptions.

“Michigan’s foster care system has been under federal court oversight for far too long,” said Rep. Johnsen. “We owe it to these children and families to look at proven solutions that help keep children in homes, whether with biological or foster parents, and not in facilities. Programs like this one give parents the skills they need to heal trauma and build stronger family bonds.”

Johnsen said she hopes the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services will consider partnering with One Big Happy Home and offer its training as an option for foster, adoptive, and biological parents. The goal, she emphasized, is to strengthen families, increase placement stability, and help Michigan move closer to ending federal court supervision of its child welfare system.

“This is about improving outcomes for children,” Johnsen added. “When parents are equipped and supported, children are far more likely to thrive in stable, loving homes.”

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