By Renae Topolewski, St. Clair County Friend of the Court
Let’s face it: the friend of the court is not a place where
one would ideally choose to spend their time.
It gets a bad name from the public and those it serves. Most of us know of someone who has gone
through the FOC and have heard complaints made about their local office. The truth is, however, the friend of the court
gets a bad name because it’s dealing with frustrated parents placed into a
mandated process when dealing with matters of the utmost importance to them: their
children and their finances. While some
things cannot be changed, we can improve the customer’s frustration level with the
process. Generally, the public’s perception
of the FOC is that it is not customer-friendly and it is difficult to get
anything accomplished from a customer service standpoint.
The St. Clair County Friend of the Court is striving to
change this perception and improve customer relations by offering an
educational course on all newly established cases: Especially for Parents: Understanding the Friend of the Court. The course outlines the customer’s rights and
responsibilities, identifies common case pitfalls, and busts public myths. To facilitate communication and a better
understanding of common concerns, a newly designed conference room was created
that allows up to 30 individuals to attend informational sessions. St. Clair County believes that investing in the
customer by offering this free educational course will begin to chip away at the
negative perception and serve as a tool to build rapport. Knowledge truly is power, and educating the
customer will encourage autonomy, create positive behavior, and improve
customer service for years to come. We
hope that by reducing the educational gap, anxiety and frustration levels will
decrease and the customer can be guided toward appropriate behaviors.
The need for such a course became evident as the result of a
different initiative. The office created
a customer service call center to emphasize a more customer-friendly attitude. Calls are answered in real time -- no voice
mail messages or phone tag. The office
then began looking at patterns of behavior and commonly asked questions from
customers. Simply put, where does the most
confusion lie within the process? Facts
were gathered on frequently asked questions received through the customer
service center and on the most commonly acknowledged pitfalls customers encounter
during the life of a case. A program to
educate the customer was then designed around these areas. Simple questions, such as the following, are
all common questions that, if unanswered, can lead to future problems:
- How, when, or where do I pay my support?
- I moved. Do I need to give you my new address?
- I have a new job. Shouldn’t my support go down?
- The noncustodial parent has not paid support. Do I have to send the child for parenting time?
- I got a new job out of state. Can I move with my child?
Because so many similar questions are frequently asked, the
need to communicate answers in a structured setting seemed to benefit customers
and save time for staff. Once the lists
of frequently asked questions were complied, the common issues were organized
into an educational course to be presented to the customer.
A friend of court employee hosts morning and afternoon classes
on Wednesdays. Customers are instructed
that this class is not a substitute for legal advice and is simply a way to
help them understand the process. They are
also allowed to look at examples of orders so they can learn how to read them. Last, they have the ability to ask questions
of the presenter. The class will also be
expanded to include existing customers, if they so wish to attend and learn
more about the process. These classes
take a different approach from “SMILE”-type classes.
We want to lessen the confusion for customers by empowering
them with knowledge. It’s difficult
enough that they are experiencing emotional grief, so why not try to eliminate barriers
that are within our control. If you
build customer service, naturally you will build rapport, and you are bound to
see results. It may take time, but you
will see results. This will also have an
effect on staff because when the customer’s needs are met the employee will
deal with fewer frustrated customer, making their job a little easier.
We want to make this as pleasant experience as possible for our
customers. We certainly cannot change
people, nor can we make a person a better parent. What we can do is give knowledge to our
customers, let them know what is expected of them and what their rights are,
and hope that this educational course will ultimately change behavior by
filling in the gaps.
