diff --git a/CHANGES.rst b/CHANGES.rst
index faaf35559..e1aabc1ee 100644
--- a/CHANGES.rst
+++ b/CHANGES.rst
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 0.10.1 (unreleased)
 ===================
 
+
 general
 -------
 - Updated datamodel maker utility imports. [#654]
@@ -16,6 +17,8 @@ source_detection
 - Added SourceDetection Step to pipeline [#608]
 - Added option of fixed random seed for unit tests to avoid intermittent failures from randomness. [#668]
 
+- Fix source detection object instantiation. [#669]
+
 
 0.10.0 (2023-02-21)
 ===================
diff --git a/romancal/source_detection/source_detection_step.py b/romancal/source_detection/source_detection_step.py
index 43cc8f672..513e75f0e 100644
--- a/romancal/source_detection/source_detection_step.py
+++ b/romancal/source_detection/source_detection_step.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 )
 from photutils.detection import DAOStarFinder
 from roman_datamodels import datamodels as rdd
+from roman_datamodels import maker_utils
 
 from romancal.lib import dqflags
 from romancal.stpipe import RomanStep
@@ -154,7 +155,7 @@ def process(self, input):
 
             # tweakreg_catalog_name will be saved to the final output file,
             # while tweakreg_catalog is intended to be deleted by TweakRegStep
-            input_model.meta["source_detection"] = {}
+            input_model.meta["source_detection"] = maker_utils.mk_source_detection()
 
             # if 'save_catalogs'= True, also save the output catalog to a file
             # (format specified by output_cat_filetype) and add an attribute