Fiend of the Court May Go Private

The headline of this post is not a typo. Many who have had first-hand contact with the Friend of the Court (FOC) system in Michigan--and particularly the Wayne County species--regard it as a fiendish beast of a system that is inefficient, inaccessible, indifferent and frequently wrong. Now Wayne County Circuit Court Chief Judge Mary Beth Kelly has announced plans to privatize the Wayne County Friend of the Court. If the plan goes through (an uphill battle, to put it mildly), the 169 current employees will find themselves employees of one of the private companies that manages friend of the court services in other states, including Texas, Tennessee and Illinois.

Apparently the plan would affect FOC employees who handle child support payments but not referees or mediators. Any bid to run the $28-million per year operation would include a requirement that the new management agree to hire all of the 169 current employees, plus hire one third more staff within the first year.

Predictably, Council 25 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) opposes the move, even though it appears that there would be no adverse consequences to the pensions or other benefits of the employees. It is unclear whether the employees would remain unionized. County Executive Robert Ficano also seems skeptical of the plan.

Privatizing this beast can only be in an improvement over the current system. As it currently stands, good parents who are just trying to get the support the law says they deserve are often frustrated in their efforts. At the same time, hardworking individuals are crushed financially as deadbeat parents who can pay but won't too often slip through the cracks. Frequently there is no way to determine what has been payed or what is owed. Parents trying to provide for their children deserve a system that works.

The really good thing about private management of the FOC system is that if the company who gets the bid doesn't improve on the current mess, then they can be fired and a different company that can get the job done will hired. The knowledge that the contract can be terminated for poor performance will do wonders to improve service, accuracy and accountability. The current system leaves no room for accountability and no incentive to improve the process.

We can cashier our politicians when they fail to live up to our (albeit low) expectations. We can fire our phone company for a new one that provides better service for less money. Why not apply the same rules to a service like the Friend of the Court too? Unlike cell phone service, what the FOC does actually matters a lot to the families that are caught up the court-ordered support system. The children deserve better than they currently get. Let's see how the "fiend" fares under new management.

See the Wayne County Circuit Court website for more information: http://www.3rdcc.org/. If you need help with a divorce or child support matter, consult one of our attorneys.