By Erin Lincoln, Interim Wayne
County Friend of the Court Director and 3rd Circuit Court Deputy Court
Administrator
Imagine navigating
a 30-mile route from your home to your county’s friend of the court (FOC) office
simply to get your child support questions answered. Could you do so using public transportation? Even with your own vehicle, would you have the
money to pay $20 for parking? Do you
know which items you can bring into the courthouse? Do you know whether you will be arrested when
you appear at the FOC to have a question answered? These are uncertainties and fears that many
clients of the Wayne County FOC face when seeking answers to their child
support questions.
Realizing the
significance of these obstacles, the Wayne County FOC decided to bring child
support information to the communities it serves, rather
than requiring the clients come to the FOC office. Focusing on the goal of securing a location
that would be viewed as “safe from arrest” and also easily accessible by public
transportation, in 2012, Zenell Brown, Wayne County FOC director at the time,
partnered with the Detroit Public Library to hold a seminar for parents with
FOC cases to learn about FOC processes and procedures. There were also pro bono attorneys on site to help the parties fill out motion
packets and paperwork.
This seminar
became a biannual event and continues every April and October at the Woodward
(Main) Branch of the Detroit Public Library. The first seminar drew approximately 50
participants, and it has grown to more than 200 participants at more recent events.
Many community partners assist in this
biannual event. Without the help of the
William Booth Legal Aid Clinic, which has been involved from the inception, the
seminar would not be possible.
Then in
2013 Ms. Brown reached out to the United Automobile, Aerospace, and
Agricultural Implement Workers of America union (UAW) with the goal of
expanding outreach opportunities for the public. The UAW represents the FOC attorney’s Judicial
Attorney Association, and the UAW’s
Region 1A Local 174 center is located in the heart of the 48238 zip code—an
area where many parties to Wayne County FOC cases live. A partnership was formed, and FOC staff
started appearing at the Region 1A Local 174 center twice a month to be
available to answer child support questions for anyone with inquiries.
In
addition to the regular monthly outreaches, the Wayne County FOC will attempt
to accommodate requests received from community partners and agencies for FOC
staff to set up information tables or present at events. An outreach approval packet was created for a
seamless approval process by court administration. Some of the more interesting FOC
presentations have been at various state correctional facilities, including
Chippewa Correctional Facility in the Upper Peninsula, and the Cooper Street
and Parnall Correctional Facilities in Jackson. Dates, times, and locations of the outreach
programs offered can be found here.
Wayne
County’s outreach program operates on a minimal budget and utilizes current
staff who volunteer for outreach events, working the outreach around their
regularly assigned duties. Advertising
for the program is done through the court’s website, social media channels,
word of mouth, and at times, radio ads. With
the approval of off-site access to the state child support enforcement computer
system, staff are now not only able to provide information on general FOC
processes and procedures, but can now also provide case-specific information to
litigants appearing with inquiries. Motion
packets are provided at all of the outreach opportunities and a special “Public
Information Packet” has been created to deliver a lot of FOC information in as
few pages as possible. Having dedicated
staff for these outreach opportunities often means that clients get lengthy,
individualized, one-on-one attention that they often cannot receive during
regular operations due to Wayne’s high-volume workload.
From January
to October 2018, 3,375 individuals utilized the FOC outreach events. Likely those 3,375 people would not have received
the information they needed without the outreach opportunities because
logistics, fear, or lack of money would have prevented them from appearing at
the FOC’s main offices. The Wayne County
FOC hopes to continue to reach these individuals and more in the
future.
[2] American Community Survey
(2010-2014 5-Year Estimates) Number of Workers in Household by Vehicles Available.
Table B08203. Accessed at: http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_14_5YR_B08203&prodType=table