Securing payment of child support by noncustodial parents is an important step toward engaging both parents to work together in parenting their child(ren).
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| Two POWER Court participants proudly display their certificates of completion as their accomplishments are recognized by 3rd Circuit Court Chief Judge Robert J. Colombo, Jr. (far left), Referee Stephanie Witucki (second from right), and Wayne County Friend of the Court Director Kent Weichmann (far right). |
This proves very challenging when you have a noncustodial parent who is unable to contribute financially due to barriers such as:
- unemployment;
- underemployment;
- lack of education;
- a monthly support obligation that may be in need of review based upon changed circumstances;
- issues involving housing, transportation, substance abuse, mental health, and a variety of other issues.
As you may recall from a previous Pundit article, Wayne County’s response to this challenge is POWER Court.
On July 1, 2010, Wayne County Friend of the Court, in cooperation with the Third Circuit Court Family Division, launched the POWER Court program. POWER Court is a specialized child support problem-solving court that accepts voluntary participants. POWER Court supports the court’s efforts at improving upon the ways in which it serves the public. Both parents and children have an absolute need for the payer of support to have an increased ability to actually meet his or her support obligations. The focus of this program is to help break down the barriers that can contribute toward the payer’s inability to fully meet his or her support obligation. The program offers a more therapeutic approach than the more traditional outcome of nonpayment of support resulting in sanctions such as incarceration.
The POWER Court acronym stands for Providing Opportunities for Work, Education, and Respect. The program’s mission is to build a generation of financially and emotionally involved parents by providing resources to help ensure they are better able to make financial contributions and establish emotional bonds in the best interests of their children.
POWER Court goals include:
- Improving public service by assisting payers in identifying and obtaining wrap-around type social service resources;
- Increased collaboration between the friend of the court and local social service organizations;
- Removing the economic barrier of nonpayment of child support between the parents so that children can ultimately benefit from both parents becoming more cooperative and the non-custodial/nonresidential payer parent taking a more active role in their lives;
- Improving public perception of the friend of the court through outreach and education in a less intimidating environment;
- Increasing federal funding levels by establishing regular payments and disbursements on cases with little or no prior payment history.
The majority of the participants referred to POWER Court for voluntary enrollment come from child support enforcement dockets. The remainder is referred from a case establishment docket where support obligations are just being established by way of initial orders. Upon enrollment and at the initial hearing before the designated friend of the court referee, the participant meets with a caseworker who assesses his or her needs and any barriers to paying support. The caseworker submits the assessment to the referee, who then creates an individualized action plan with reasonable goals set, including:
- A review hearing date;
- Good faith payments toward the monthly child support obligation;
- Referrals to relevant community service providers depending on the needs of the participant;
- A referral to friend of the court for review and potential modification of the current monthly support obligation.
The caseworker continues to follow up regularly with participants to assist them with staying on track to meet their goals. Referees schedule frequent review hearings to monitor compliance and personal accountability. The criteria for a participant’s graduation from the program includes active participation and substantial compliance with his or her action plan.
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| The POWER Court team (left to right): Cindy Yeagins-Brown, Administrative Assistant; Cheryl Terry, Senior Domestic Relations Specialist; Referee Stephanie Witucki; LaDonna Floyd, Senior Domestic Relations Specialist. |
Participation in POWER Court is a maximum of one year per participant. POWER Court continues to operate in its eighth year as a designated docket on two afternoons per week. It is not a grant-funded program.
POWER Court celebrates participants’ successful completion of the program at the participant’s final POWER Court review hearing, which includes recognition of the accomplishments of each graduate and presentation of a certificate of completion. It’s always a proud moment for the graduates to hear about and reflect on all that they have accomplished while in the program.
One memorable participant initially prepared his first resume ever with the assistance of a service provider while in the program. He then completed a job readiness and financial literacy program, and ultimately secured employment after having been unemployed for over two years. He had such a positive experience with the service provider that he also assisted his adult son with enrollment into their program for help with employment and obtaining a GED.
Another memorable participant had a significant child support arrearage, had been unemployed for quite some time, and had lost contact with his child. The gentleman secured employment while in the program, began making regular child support payments via income withholding, and reconnected with the custodial parent to establish a parenting time schedule by consent.
POWER Court staff regularly receives positive feedback from participants, which makes the program rewarding not only for participants, but also for program staff.
Since the July 2010 program launch, POWER Court has serviced 280 participants with 514 cases between them, as some participants have multiple cases. There have been 114 graduates of the program. POWER Court currently services 22 active participants with 44 cases between them. Many of the participants lack a high school diploma or GED and have criminal records.
All of the participants who enroll in POWER Court do so because they are unemployed or underemployed and are unable to meet their monthly child support obligations. These participants have significant barriers to overcome, but they are motivated to turn their lives around. POWER Court offers community support of participants’ efforts and the reminder that their success also benefits their children.
For further information, please contact Chief Referee Stephanie Witucki at Stephanie.witucki@3rdcc.org.
