By Julie Vandenboom, Michigan Office of Child Support Program Re-Engineering Specialist
In July and August 2023 the Office of Child Support (OCS) conducted a series of four Listening Sessions. These initial sessions were offered to individuals who expressed interest in providing additional feedback to the child support program after attending one of the OCS Advisory Council Information Sessions. Several child support professionals had the opportunity to hear the lived experiences of families served by the child support program.
The OCS heard from both child support payers and child support payees, with a wide range of concerns. We heard that child support should not be “one size fits all” and that the program’s current policies and procedures do not provide equitable results for all participants. Participants were also concerned that in some situations, it seems that issues cannot be resolved without the assistance and associated expenses of an attorney. Some of the specific scenarios that were identified as problematic include:
- Issues around medical support
- Concerns about support calculations.
- The inability to easily communicate with some Friend of the Court offices.
- The income verification process for self-employed payers.
- Lack of enforcement of parenting time.
The OCS has shared the information we learned (without any personally identifying information) with the child support program’s leadership, which includes partners from the friend of the court offices, the State Court Administrative Office, and the prosecuting attorney offices. We will also share our experience and the input we received with all of Michigan’s child support professionals on the mi-support site.
Several initiatives currently underway within the child support program will help address some of the concerns expressed in the Listening Sessions. For instance, OCS plans to pilot child support navigators in several counties in 2024, which should help program participants resolve issues and will be able to connect them with legal resources.
The OCS appreciates the time these families took to share their experiences with us in the spirit of improving Michigan’s child support program. We hope to learn from and build on this experience to offer additional Listening Sessions, focus groups, or town hall discussions in the future.
