Welcome to the Navigator Program

The Michigan Child Support Program is piloting a new initiative to help families navigate the child support system. The idea came about after members of the Michigan Office of Child Support (OCS) Community Advisory Council shared stories about the confusion and frustration they often felt while trying to make their way through a system that isn’t widely understood and recommended that the program pursue a child support navigator-style pilot program.

How Can I Help You: The Importance of Accessible Legal Services to the Friend of the Court

By Ashley Kasper

My time working for the Friend of the Court Bureau has been immensely fulfilling, intertwining my passion for the law with a sense of purpose. My role has allowed me to navigate the intricacies of legal processes and provided a platform to apply the skills I developed volunteering in Wayne County. My volunteer experience helped me foster a deep understanding of community dynamics and enhanced my ability to serve with empathy and efficiency. 

Guy Jacobson Reflects on His Retirement

 

Guy Jacobson

As all things must come to an end, I’m retiring after 36 years of working at the Friend of the Court offices in Muskegon and Kent Counties, and I have been asked   to describe what it has been like to work in this unique and often misunderstood family division of the circuit court. 

An Interview of Reflections on the Career of Thomas Blohm

Thomas Blohm

What was your path to Friend of the Court Director?

I started with the Friend of the Court on July 16, 1984. My first position was as a Support Investigator. I interviewed litigants and their attorneys to provide pre- and post-judgment child support recommendations to the judges. By 1985 I was promoted to a Judicial Service Officer position and charged with enforcing child support and parenting time orders. In 1999, I was promoted to Enforcement Division Director, then in January 2015, was named Director of the office. I have been in a management position for 25 years. 

Felony Non-Support - An Overview

 Background

Children have the inherent and statutory right to support from their parents (MCL 722.3). Most people care for their children and make whatever sacrifices are necessary to provide for them. They truly want the best for their kids and take such necessary steps. We see this in the many cases that never go to court, even where legal actions are started. Even those parents who fall short in being able to support their children often still make efforts to do at least something to help financially. However, the unfortunate reality is that some parents move on with their lives and neglect their familial obligations. There are many reasons for this—far too many to list here. Some examples that have come up include: starting a new family; simple apathy coupled with a desire to live their best lives; and a great deal of spite for the other parent. Whatever the reason, they do not meet this basic, universal right. 

Michigan Child Support Formula

 

On January 1, the new 2025 Child Support Formula (“Formula”) took effect. This article lists some of the major changes in the formula.

New FOC Director Trainings and Resources

By Danelle Hove, Customer Service Clerk, Friend of the Court Bureau 

The Covid-19 pandemic brought great shifts to Friend of the Court (FOC) offices across the state. These changes accompanied an influx of new FOC directors and deputy directors, along with new staff to train, budgets to prepare, and increased caseloads. In order to assist our new FOC directors, the FOC offers remote New Director training. The most recent cohort began on Tuesday, September 26, 2023, with weekly sessions being held from 9:00- 10:00 am. If you are interested in joining this training, please email PoetzL@courts.mi.gov.

OCS Listening Sessions

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.

Michigan Family Support Council Annual Conference: Thoughts from a First-time Attendee

 By Lisa Harris, Management Assistant, Friend of the Court Bureau

The ride up to the Michigan Family Support Conference (MFSC) at Boyne Mountain Resort was so beautiful and refreshing!  My lungs were filled with the fresh up-north air while I squinted as the bright sun peeked through the clouds, watching as the contrast of fall-colored leaves appeared the farther north we drove.  I was so full of excitement, but also nervousness. I was presenting that afternoon at 3:15 pm and had signed up to help with registration before that. I was chatting on the ride up with my co-worker, Liz, and enjoying the scenery so much that I had almost forgot I was soon going to stand in front of 40 of my child support colleagues, and hoped not to bumble every word of my presentation.

MCSF and Support Determination Google Group is Live

The Friend of the Court Bureau (FOCB), in partnership with representatives from friend of the court and prosecuting attorney offices, has created a new Google group focused on questions and answers about the Michigan Child Support Formula and support determinations. The group is designed to be user-led and will create a library of questions and answers users can search as needed.  Membership is open to employees of prosecuting attorney and friend of the court offices who perform support determinations (either establishing order, or review and modifications). 

To be added to the group, please e-mail Paul Gehm, Lisa Harris, Amy Rebideaux, Christen Schwab, or Jennifer Granzow.

Additionally, if you are interested, but not already a part of the Friend of the Court Bureau’s other Google groups, including Intergov, Motivational Interviewing, and Alternative Dispute Resolution, please feel free to reach out to Lisa Harris, the FOCB Management Assistant at harrisl@courts.mi.gov.

SAVES Grant Seeks to Provide Trauma Informed Approaches to Child Support Services

By Elizabeth West, Management Analyst, Friend of the Court Bureau; and Amy Rebideaux, Muskegon County Friend of the Court Director

In early 2021, the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) issued a grant proposal called Safe Access for Victims’ Economic Security (SAVES). OCSE accepted proposals for a 5-year demonstration project with a focus on comprehensive domestic violence policies, procedures, and program services to increase safe access to child support services for victims/survivors while looking at all domestic relations matters through a trauma-informed lens.

The Friend of the Court Bureau in the State Court Administrative office (SCAO FOCB) and Muskegon County applied for the grant in June 2021, and was awarded one of the 16 demonstration grants in September 2021. Michigan’s grant proposal was unique among the 16 grantees in that it created a two-track approach – a county-specific track and a state workgroup track.

During the grant writing, the grant team learned that the family violence data within MiCSES has fluctuated over the past ten years. As of June 2021, 23.7 percent of all open Michigan IV-D cases contain a family violence indicator. The numbers reported in MiCSES are much lower than the national average reported.

Motivational Interviewing as a Tool to Serve the Whole Family

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

What are we really trying to accomplish through our services? The Michigan child support program’s strategic plan states a vision of “engaging parents to improve children’s lives,” and that our purpose is “to achieve families’ well-being and self-sufficiency through a family-centered, holistic approach.”  We want to improve children’s lives and strive for entire families’ well-being and self-sufficiency, yet we typically only try to interact, beyond information-gathering, with the parent who is supposed to pay child support. And this usually only happens when that person is not paying enough, and then we make contact through a punitive action or threat of punishment.

How can we actually get better at “engaging parents”? We know that a lot people with a case avoid any contact with our program, and when we start asking parents why, some of the responses are that they are not experiencing individualized treatment or feel they are not truly heard. And this is understandable to anyone who has worked an enormous FOC caseload and felt the pressure of limited time to spread across hundreds of cases.

As a Door on FOC Career Closes, Another Opens

By Mary Katherine Neumann, Oakland County Friend of the Court Custody and Parenting Time Specialist

Retirement always seems such a faraway event and then one day WOW - it is here. You feel you have accomplished many goals throughout your journey as a professional, but you know in your heart when it is time to retire. It is time for me to retire from Oakland County and the Friend of the Court. My mother always said when one door closes, another one opens. This describes my 32 years as a social worker in Oakland County. When I started this journey as a social worker, I would have never guessed that I would end up working at the Friend of the Court as a Custody and Parenting Time Specialist.

My journey as a social worker began in 1986 when I received my Master’s Degree in social work from Wayne State University. I worked at Oakland Family Services for five years, providing group treatment to children who were sexually abused. This linked me to working with Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office and being an advocate for victims who were going to testify in criminal trials. The Prosecutor’s Office developed the Child’s Sexual Assault Unit and posted a position for a social worker.

Friend of the Court Alternative Dispute Resolution Training and Qualification Requirements

 By Timothy Cole, Friend of the Court Bureau Management Analyst

MCR 3.224 requires the State Court Administrative Office (SCAO) to establish training and qualifications requirements for friend of the court (FOC) alternative dispute resolution (ADR) providers.  MCR 3.224 outlines three basic FOC ADR services - 1) FOC domestic relations mediation, 2) facilitative and information-gathering conferences (FIGCs), and 3) joint meetings.  This article will provide SCAO training and qualifications, information on Circuit Courts requesting a waiver for training and qualifications, and information on training opportunities.

Education requirements

The education requirements to provide FOC domestic relations mediation and FIGC is a bachelor’s degree in social sciences, education, or a related field, or a juris doctorate.  For joint meetings the education requirements are a bachelor’s degree in social sciences, education, or a related field, or an associate degree and two years of experience working with families.

Announcing New Friends of the Court

The Friend of the Court Bureau would like to welcome and introduce new local FOC directors.

Trinja Henrickson

Friend of the Court

51st Circuit Court, Mason County 

Education and experience:

Bachelor of Arts, Grand Valley State University

Prior to my promotion, I was a Friend of the Court case manager.

Interests and activities:

In my free time, I love spending time with my three wonderful children.

Legal Corner

 

PUBLISHED OPINIONS

Child Custody – Considerations On Remand

In lieu of granting leave to appeal, the Michigan Supreme Court vacated in part Butters v Butters, ___ Mich App ___ (2022), because while “[t]he Court of Appeals correctly explained that, on remand, the trial court should consider up-to-date information, including the children’s current and reasonable preferences when determining whether a modification of the previous custody order is warranted,” it “erred by instructing the [circuit court] on remand to apply the best-interest factors under the clear-and-convincing evidence standard without regard to any changed circumstances that might have occurred during the pendency of th[e] appeal.” Butters v Butters, ___ Mich ___, ___ (2022) (quotation marks and citations omitted). “When nonharmless errors occur in child custody cases that necessitate a remand to the circuit court for reevaluation, those courts should address the circumstances of the child as they exist at the time of remand.” Id. at ___ (directing the circuit court on remand “to reevaluate the children’s established custodial environments based upon up-to-date information in existence at the time of the evidentiary hearing”).

Fojtik Retires from Kent County Friend of the Court

Director Daniel J. Fojtik, of the Kent County Friend of the Court, announced his retirement effective August 30, 2022. He has given many years of service to the State of Michigan.

What was your path to Friend of the Court Director?

Originally, I worked as a referee in Ottawa County during the ‘90s. Back then, we were independent contractors with no benefits. When my first daughter was a year old, a friend told me there was a position open as staff attorney for the Kent County Friend of the Court. I jumped on that and had the privilege of serving in that position for 16 years.  After a short stint as a referee, I was given the opportunity to come back as director in November 2015.

Fojtik's early years at FOC

What changes have you seen during your tenure?

During my years as staff attorney, we were all about support enforcement and were probably a bit too rigid. During my tenure as director, I’ve noticed that things seem to be going too far the other way through the erosion of some of our discretionary enforcement remedies. We could probably have a spirited debate about this, but I think the concept of personal responsibility isn’t a thing that it once was. Ideally, we should come to the middle, and that is my hope for the future.

Michigan Family Support Council Honors Child Support Staff

 By Lindsay Poetz, Management Analyst, Friend of the Court Bureau

This year, several individuals in the Michigan child support community were honored at the Michigan Family Support Council Fall Conference held at Boyne Mountain Resort. It was the first time the conference was held in person since 2019, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Awards were distributed for years 2021 and 2022 in recognition of exemplary contributions and service to the Michigan Child Support Program. 

ACT Program Provides Parental Support

 By Jessica Castañeda, Allegan County FOC and Reyna Masko, Ottawa County FOC 

In child support enforcement, we have all had our share of tough cases.  Often these cases involve parents struggling to make consistent payments. Parents who fail to timely pay support find themselves in their local Friend of the Court (FOC) office facing contempt proceedings for failure to pay and may serve jail time for their noncompliance. At times its seems that the only effective recourse or remedy available to the FOC caseworker is to have the payer of support “pay or stay.” 

The Alternative Contempt Track docket, better known as ACT or the ACT Program, is a problem-solving court that allows the court an intermediate solution alternative to civil contempt or criminal nonsupport for non-payment.  The program is designed as a child support enforcement model that provides holistic, family-centered ways of removing barriers preventing parents from financially supporting and being actively involved in their children’s lives, thereby ending the “pay or stay” cycle.

SCAO Management Assistant Shares Tips from Past Personal, Professional Experiences

By Lisa Harris, Management Assistant, Friend of the Court Bureau

I became a child of a domestic relations case in 1979. I never really grew up feeling disadvantaged for being a child of divorce (granted, I never knew anything else). I was lucky enough to have two parents willing to work together to make my situation positive. Whenever I was asked about being from a divorced home, I would share how awesome it was to have two homes, extra parents, extra grandparents, extra siblings, double holidays, twice as many gifts, and there was ALWAYS someone at one of my sporting events! 

Unfortunately, this isn’t the experience for all children and families. Friend of the Court (FOC) staff often see families arguing, sometimes at each other’s throats, vengeful, angry, hurt, and often loud. We rarely get to see the families who were able to reach an agreement on their own or who are getting along well.  Even if parents are cooperating, it may take years (if ever) to get to a good place in co-parenting.