By Jack Battles, former Genesee County Friend of the Court Director
Prior to joining the Genesee County Friend of the Court (FOC) in August of 2006, I had enjoyed a successful 20 year legal practice focused mainly on family law and criminal defense. At the time I felt my background in the legal community provided me with the necessary tools to take over the office and be successful. I soon found I had underestimated the requirements of the office and the drastically changing economic environment in Genesee County.
Responding to a Shifting Landscape in Genesee County
In 2006 our primary employer, General Motors, had relocated approximately 75,000 high-paying manufacturing jobs, and our collections on current support and arrearages slipped to just over 50%. The office had accrued over 680 million dollars in uncollected child support, had over 8,000 open civil warrants, and our county jail was continuously overcrowded. The office employed 101 of the hardest working people I had ever encountered, but due to the county’s economic issues, our office was reduced to just 73 employees by 2009. It soon became clear that the needs of our community had changed, and that the FOC had to find a new way of meeting the challenges facing our office.
Our office immediately set about changing the way we conducted business. We focused not on how we had done things in the past, but on what our community needed for the future and we began to transform the office to better utilize our people. A major focus was placed on locating noncustodial parents and focusing our efforts on re-engaging them. Once individuals were found, we focused less on show causes and warrants and more on identifying issues preventing families from being successful and providing services to support their success. If parents were undereducated, we referred them to Mott Community College; if they lacked job skills, we sent them to job training. The immediate result from identifying underlying barriers was to connect people to resources as quickly as possible. The secondary result was the creation of strong bonds with many community partners, including: Flint STRIVE; Legal Services of Eastern Michigan; numerous substance abuse agencies; and others. We now continually sponsor, attend, and present at events with our community partners, which has improved our image and credibility in our community.
Memorable Changes at the Genesee County FOC
By November 2006, we had identified technology improvements needed to implement the changes taking place at the FOC. Planning for our document management system required us to rethink every document and function historically performed at the FOC. By the time we went live in 2009 we had analyzed, reanalyzed, and over analyzed every FOC function multiple times. We had purged and scanned every file going back 10 years. Leaving paper files behind was disconcerting, but we were no longer held hostage to a missing file or other limitations of working with paper. Today, our electronic documents and work flows save critical human hours and drastically improves operational efficiency to the point that no one at the FOC would voluntarily go back to pre-2009 operational procedures.
During my time at the FOC, the office has also participated in rewarding and sometimes groundbreaking projects, including: specialty courts like Parents and Children Together (PACT) and ADAPT (Acquiring DNA and Paternity Timely), a program called “IMPACT” designed to help fathers reunite with their children by removing barriers, Compromise Arrears in Return for On-Time Support (CAROTS), special Arrears Management Program events, participating with the sheriff’s work detail, sweeps, amnesty events, and many other hands-on initiatives.
I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the support and guidance provided by the Friend of the Court Association, the Friend of the Court Bureau and the Office of Child Support in developing many of the Genesee County initiatives. I have also had the privilege of working with the most wonderful and talented people at our local office. Our Genesee team has met and exceeded every challenge presented and have proven themselves time and time again. I am proud to be part of such a talented and driven group of people, and as I fade off into retirement, I will miss them all.
Future Plans
The journey for all of us is never-ending. We will always experience growth, adversity, and the opportunity for improvement. My immediate plans for the future include a 30-day trip to Glacier National Park, where my son is a Park Ranger. My wife and I also enjoy spending time with our daughter, son-in-law, and two grandsons. After a March trip which includes a European cruise, we look forward to whatever the future holds.
Jack Battles recently retired from the role of Genesee County Friend of the Court Director, which he held from 2006 to 2021. Before that he worked as an attorney in private practice for 20 years.