Closing the Gap with Fathers

By Nikki Withrow, Management Analyst, SCAO Friend of the Court Bureau (FOCB)

I don’t know when it happened, but at some point in its 100-year history, the Friend of the Court (FOC) was given an unfortunate nickname: “Friend of the Mother” (or sometimes other, more unsavory versions of this). 

In approximately 90 percent of Michigan’s child support cases, the mother is receiving child support, and the father is paying child support, which means that our system gives the mother the “custodial parent” label and “noncustodial” to the father. In the almost six years since I started working with the child support program, I have heard it said time and again that the FOC is interested in doing what is best for the mother – not what is best for the child, not what is best for the family, and especially not what is best for the father. Granted, the people I have heard this from are either fathers with an FOC case or family members of a father with an FOC case, but it still raises the question: what can the FOC do to make fathers know they matter, too?

Fathers on Child Support webinar.

Lost in Translation: How to Ensure Effective FOC Communications While Working Remotely

By Steve Capps, Director, SCAO Friend of the Court Bureau

Think back to events or holidays you enjoy.  What do you remember?  Chances are the things you remember are sights – lights and colors – feelings, sounds, or smells. Maybe you remember feeling the warmth of the sun at the ballpark or the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field for those of you in the UP.  You might recall sounds like laughter, songs, and cheers.  You might think of the smell of a feast being prepared or hot dogs on the grill.

Scheduling Friend of the Court Appointments Online

By Suzanne Hollyer, Director, Oakland County Friend of the Court, and President, Friend of the Court Association; and Brittany Dougherty, Director, Saginaw County Friend of the Court

Several counties have implemented a free appointment scheduling system called Setmore to allow a controlled flow of clients into their buildings as friend of the court (FOC) offices navigate serving clients during a global pandemic. The Oakland County Friend of the Court (Oakland FOC) first sought out the Setmore appointment system when investigating how to continue serving its walk-in clients. The Saginaw County Friend of the Court (Saginaw FOC) has further expanded its customer service options by allowing video appointments using this free service.

MiChildSupport & FOCA Technology Team Providing Solutions during the Pandemic

By Sandra Vanderhyde, Muskegon County Friend of the Court & Circuit Court Administrator, and Kim Lubbers, Office of Child Support (OCS), MiChildSupport Product Owner 

What happens when partner agencies collaborate? The customer reaps the benefits.  

The Friend of the Court Association Technology Team (FOCA Tech Team) and the MiChildSupport Team have been meeting quarterly for several years to identify and implement ways to improve the customer experience. With a focus on MiChildSupport, our public-facing website, the teams have worked together to build on existing features and to generate new ideas for engaging child support customers. And then came COVID-19. 

MiChildSupport landing page.

Creative Child Support Enforcement: DNR License Suspensions

By Bill Bartels, Management Analyst, SCAO Friend of the Court Bureau

License suspension has been an available child support enforcement remedy since 1997. (MCL 552.628)  To be eligible, a payer’s arrears must exceed twice the monthly support obligation, and an income withholding order/notice (IWN) must be either nonexistent or ineffective at collecting consistent support. 

Legal Corner - November 2020

"The Legal Corner" provides a summary of recent Michigan Supreme Court and Michigan Court of Appeals decisions relevant to the child support program, as well as recently released state memoranda.

Self Care and Team Care in Isolation

By Shenandoah Chefalo, Faculty, The Center for Trauma Resilient Communities

[Editor’s note: The following article was originally published in the National Child Support Enforcement Association’s May 2020 issue of the Child Support CommuniQue (CSQ) and is reprinted with permission.]

Panic is a real feeling. Anxiety about the unknown is real. Recognizing our actual feelings is a good first step in understanding if we are in survival mode. This “survival brain” or trauma brain as we often refer to it, is a necessary and lifesaving auto response we have to real life threat. However, it can be sent into over-drive and then become our automatic response instead of our life-saving response. 

This “triggering” can have life-altering and sometimes deadly consequences. It’s impossible in a short article to rationally explain all the ways living in survival mode can affect you, but it has a broad range including migraines, rashes, hormonal imbalance, tiredness, digestive problems, tension, trouble focusing, insomnia - to even more severe illness. 

Flint Nonprofit InvolvedDad Works with Friend of the Court to Strengthen Families

By Shon Hart, Founder and Executive Director, InvolvedDad

Although it is sometimes a wearying fight, the moment a father can see, hold, and embrace his child for the very first time is worth every second. And, when the only thing standing in the way of a father and child’s relationship is helping him with his child support payment while he gets on his feet, it’s worth every penny. This is just one way that my organization serves fathers in the Flint area.

High Unemployment Benefit Impact to the Michigan Child Support Caseload During the Pandemic

By Paul Gehm, Management Analyst, SCAO Friend of the Court Bureau

“How can we help? What can we do?” Those were the first questions from many who work in the child support program as COVID-19 began to affect life in Michigan. We knew, at the beginning of all of this, that the impact to families would be great. Many immediately wanted to help families affected by COVID-19 and shutdowns, showing the passion and empathy they bring to their work (and the reason they do this work).

Since the onset of the pandemic, we continue to learn about how it is affecting child support program families. In Michigan, over 2 million people have filed new claims for unemployment benefits from the Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) since the first shutdown in early March. [1] More than 258,000 Michigan child support parties have filed claims. While the peak occurred in late March to early April, we are still seeing over 3,500 new claims from Michigan child support parties filed each week (as of the week ending July 25). For comparison, there were roughly 5,000 new claims per week from everyone in the state at this point last year.

Intergovernmental Corner: Highlights from Latest Border Conference

By Elizabeth Stomski, Management Analyst, Friend of the Court Bureau

Another great Biannual Border Conference was held last November. Over 150 federal, state, and local child support workers from eight states, one tribal nation, and the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) met for one and one-half days in Indiana to discuss the current state of intergovernmental case processing throughout the country. The participating jurisdictions were: Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, Colorado, and the Ho-Chunk Nation. 

OCSE Region V map with star for regional office.

During the conference, each state had the opportunity to present a brief overview of its child support program and highlight any recent changes or large successes. The conference then conducted a session with intergovernmental case law updates covering cases across the country. Participants then worked through some difficult intergovernmental case processing scenarios with partners from other states to learn how each jurisdiction would handle the particular situation. The conference concluded with a federal update from OCSE. Most of the states at this Border Conference are a part of OCSE’s Region V, and the group was congratulated for being the first OCSE region that is fully up and running with the Electronic Document Exchange. 

Virtual Agency-Supervised Parenting Time – What’s Different?

By Amy Lindholm, Friend of the Court Bureau Management Analyst

We have all begun to adapt to a “new normal” since the coronavirus pandemic unfolded in Michigan in March of 2020. We wear masks when leaving our homes to protect each other. Restaurants have created new outdoor distanced seating arrangements. Many of us only see our work colleagues through video chats, and our family members and pets have become our new “coworkers.” For many families - especially those with high conflict, long distances between households, or family members who are ill - parenting time has also changed significantly.

This article will provide some tips and resources for “virtual” agency-supervised parenting time in friend of the court cases. For guidance regarding supervised visitation in foster care cases, please refer to the most recent Communication Issuance from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Children’s Services Agency.

Michigan’s Work in Behavioral Interventions – Recent and Future

By Julie Vandenboom, Program ReEngineering Specialist, Office of Child Support; and Carol Bealor, Director, Cass County Friend of the Court

In 2018, Michigan was invited to become a Behavioral Interventions in Child Support (BICS) Peer Learning Site. BICS was a five-year demonstration grant awarded to eight child support agencies across the country in 2014. Several states – including Michigan – and tribal IV-D programs that did not participate in the grant formed a cohort of Peer Learning Sites to develop, adapt, implement, and evaluate behavioral interventions to improve their own program operations. A behavioral intervention attempts to influence a desired activity or outcome by presenting choices based on how people make decisions. Readers can learn more about the basics of behavioral interventions from this previous Pundit article.

New Procedures for Friend of the Court Alternative Dispute Resolution

By Timothy Cole, Management Analyst, Friend of the Court Bureau

Last year the Michigan Supreme Court approved a Friend of the Court Alternative Dispute Resolution court rule (MCR 3.224) which took effect on January 1, 2020.  The court rule outlines procedures courts must follow – some new – when conducting friend of the court (FOC) alternative dispute resolution (ADR).  

Legal Corner - August 2020

 "The Legal Corner" provides a summary of recent Michigan Supreme Court and Michigan Court of Appeals decisions relevant to the child support program, as well as recently released state memoranda.

Contributions by Casey Peacock, Law Clerk, Friend of the Court Bureau

Chief Justice McCormack Announces Return of Pundit and Thanks FOC

Hello everyone,

On behalf of Michigan’s Supreme Court, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your public service and to offer a few words of encouragement during this health crisis.

COVID-19 Resources for Child Support Professionals

By Amy Lindholm, Management Analyst, SCAO Friend of the Court Bureau

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many changes in daily activity for Michigan courts and for Michigan families.  There have been many new questions about how custody, parenting time, and child support orders work during this public health pandemic, as well as how friend of the court (FOC) offices can, should, or must operate during and after this crisis.

The State Court Administrative Office Court Services Division has created many resources to address access to the courts, and the Friend of the Court Bureau (the Bureau) has created specific resources to help FOC offices provide services during this time.  Many of the resources are located on our web page, “FOC Resources during the COVID-19 Outbreak.”  We will continue to add information here providing general answers to common questions about FOC services and custody, parenting time, and child support orders during the COVID-19 outbreak.

An Awakening – Signs of Life after a Long Winter

By Steve Capps, Director, SCAO Friend of the Court Bureau

On March 10, 2020, Governor Whitmer proclaimed a state of emergency in Michigan.  Overnight, everything changed.  Support specialists had new case referrals suspended, and friend of the court (FOC) and prosecuting attorney staff were sent home – often with little to no contact to their work.

March in Michigan is still winter.  On March 10, there is still more darkness than light, and the light this year was frequently accompanied by ill-tempered weather.  High storm winds, one of the latest snow events in recent history, and record-breaking low temperatures for spring in Michigan soon followed.

How to Provide Electronic Notary Services

By Nikki Withrow, Management Analyst, SCAO Friend of the Court Bureau

Governor Whitmer’s Executive Order (EO) 2020-74 encourages government agencies to use electronic notarization through June 30, 2020.  To do so, notaries and the parties must use two-way, real-time audiovisual technology.

The Buzz about Zoom

By Amy Lindholm, Management Analyst, SCAO Friend of the Court Bureau

As social distancing continues to be recommended to reduce the spread of COVID-19, Michigan courts are turning to video- and audio-conferencing options using Zoom software to allow litigants to remotely conduct their court business.  The Michigan Supreme Court offers each seated circuit, district, and probate judge a Zoom Enterprise license at no additional charge to the local court.  The license provides each judge with his or her own Zoom virtual courtroom.  The Michigan Judicial Institute (MJI) and Judicial Information Services (JIS) have put together many resources to help courts quickly learn about using Zoom videoconferencing to conduct court business and to ease that transition.

Virtual courtroom backgrounds are available on the Virtual Courtroom Resource Center page.

Good Health & Wellbeing during Quarantine

By Abigail Tithof, Human Resources Specialist, State Court Administrative Office

It seems there is no greater task before us than to make it through this uniquely challenging period of separation from life and love as we knew it before COVID-19.  Early on, it seemed that a (then) minor change in reality could only be perceived in waves.  There were enough daily activities that we could still pursue, so as not to notice the more dramatic changes lurking around the corner.  In early March, someone mentioned toilet paper and pondering why people were snatching it off the shelves, as if we were unconsciously picking a random, benign item to distract us from the bigger picture.  It did not compute to me all those weeks ago, as your average human resources worker, that we were in for more than just an exercise in good stewardship of restroom supplies. 

Tips for Working Remotely

By Kiesha Gibson, Law Clerk, SCAO Friend of the Court Bureau

[Editor's note: The following tips for working from home have been adapted with permission from SCAO’s internal “Tips for Working from Home.”]

Starting in January 2020, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has impacted life around the world.  In Michigan, Governor Whitmer announced a state of emergency in March and signed the “Stay Home, Stay Safe” Executive Order, which required those of us who could to work from home to lower the spread of infection.  Getting accustomed to working from home has challenges in itself.  Whether you feel isolated, have frequent family or pet interruptions, or just have trouble staying focused, there can be some difficulty working from home.

Address Changes after Evictions and Foreclosures Resume

By Kelsey Croft, Law Clerk, Friend of the Court Bureau

As everyone is likely aware, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a tremendous impact on our society.  The various policies and procedures to respond to COVID-19 are changing almost as quickly as they are enacted.  State and federal agencies have rolled out programs to provide financial assistance to individuals, but many people will still fall through the cracks or need more assistance than they can access.

Aside from the more obvious consequences, many Michiganders are likely to lose their housing – or they may have already.  Housing changes mean address changes.  Unfortunately, updating an address with the court is probably, at best, an afterthought for parents in the midst of a housing crisis.  Friend of the court (FOC) offices must be prepared for the upcoming influx of address changes that will affect their ability to provide essential child support services to Michigan families.