Genesee County: Responding to Federal Incentives

While it is true that the Friend of the Court often times can be oppressive and abusive, it is important to remember that these problems extend all the way up to the federal level.  Child support is pretty much the only area of involvement when it comes to family court.  Which is one of many contributing factors as to why the FOC tends to abuse its power against those from whom they collect child support. . .  They have the federal government backing and sometimes motivating their efforts.  

Based on some comments I have read, many people believe that the sole purpose of the FOC is to collect child support.  They wonder what could they possibly be doing if they are not "doing their job" collecting money and chasing deadbeat parents (let's face it, deadbeat dads).  My response would be only a guess, but it would be that they are focusing on the more important aspect of enforcement when it comes to split parents, and that is protecting the child's right to have a relationship with both of his or her parents, not the custodial parent's (let's face it, mother's) "right" to unconditionally take money from someone without accountability.

Then it's funny how the discussion turns to holding support payers (and yes, they are officially referred to as "payers") to their responsibility.  When the FOC is really doing their job, their number one priority is protecting the relationship between the child(ren) and the non-custodial parent through case workers and not blindly jumping to any conclusion the custodial parent is making or believing any lie she is telling.  In protecting these relationships, the non-custodial parent will in turn live up to any proportionate financial responsibility.

Genesee County Friend of the Court clears more than $871,000 in child support payments during incentive program

Published: Sunday, August 21, 2011, 9:00 PM     Updated: Monday, August 22, 2011, 5:11 PM

mlive.com

By Roberto Acosta | Flint Journal

GENESEE COUNTY, Michigan — Parents ponied up more than $871,000 in unpaid child support after the Genesee County Friend of the Court asked its workers to brainstorm new approaches for collecting money and handling cases.

View full sizeFile photoJohn Battles

The 11-week program also cleared up more than 2,700 cases and cleared the books of $44 million that was owed, mainly through closing old cases and restructuring payment agreements.

Friend of the Court John Battles said the methods weren’t new ideas, but the office’s 85 caseworkers took a more hands-on approach.

“One employee just grabbed a list of active bench warrants and just started calling everybody who needed to make a payment,” he said. “Even the switchboard operator was collecting money.”

Other workers stepped up efforts to establish paternity.

The office also closed cases in which someone owing support may have been deceased, incarcerated or been missing for an extended period of time.

“By closing cases that are uncollectable or shouldn’t be collected, it allows us to devote time to cases that we can collect on,” said casework supervisor Connie Boniecki.

More than 100 orders were made to stop support because the person owed no longer wanted to collect the money and another 450 orders were modified to reflect changes in the parent’s fiscal situation.

“The employees came up with a lot of great ideas on how to work with people, how to collect on cases we should have been collecting on,” said

There’s still much work to be done.

The Friend of the Court estimates there is still about $524 million in unpaid child support on more than 66,000 open cases in the county.

A residual benefit from the latest collections is that it may help increase the amount of federal money to Genesee County, Battles said.

The state’s Department of Human Services distributes the money based largely on child support and back support collection.

Battles said 17 employees were laid off during the last fiscal year, but the staff in place continues to make calls and assist in all their normal case responsibilities.

“I know some people don’t see that, but they are a hard-working group,” he said. “They want to do the right thing for people.”