[ED NOTE: The following is excerpted from Steve Capps’ speech commemorating the friend of the court 100th anniversary at the Friend of the Court Association’s summer conference in Muskegon on July 24, 2019.]
The years 1917 to 1919 were watershed years for America. In 1917, America entered the Great War, also known as “the war to end all wars,” or as we now call it, World War I. Like those who fight it, a war changes a nation and its people. Before the war, America was a large and powerful country. But it looked inward. Although industrialized, a large portion of its economy was still agrarian.
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| Steve Capps addresses the Friend of the Court Association during their 100-year celebration. |
Following the war, the nation adopted the Nineteenth Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote, and women’s economic roles increased. Child labor laws improved, and a nascent civil rights movement took shape.
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| Photo from "Bench & Bar of Michigan: Nineteen Hundred Eighteen." |
Nevertheless,
the court cannot operate in a vacuum. In
1917, if a person failed to follow a court order concerning a child or spouse,
the other party could file a motion for an order to show cause to enforce the
order through the court’s contempt power.
However, a poor woman whose spouse was disobeying a support order could
little afford to hire an attorney, and attorneys who were willing to take such
a case were scarce. As a result, many
vulnerable families could not invoke the court’s authority to enforce domestic
obligations. In 1917, at the beginning
of the watershed moment, the Wayne County judges decided to address this issue
head on by appointing a special prosecutor – a friend of
the court - who would bring to the court’s attention a person’s
failure to obey its decrees and to bring other actions to see that Wayne county
children were properly cared for. They
appointed Edward Pokorny to that position effective January 7, 1918.
The experiment was a success. So much so, that in 1919, the Michigan Legislature passed legislation establishing a friend of the court in every county to ensure the welfare of children and ensure they were being cared for and supported. Fortuitously, this happened just as the need for such services expanded. There have been a few changes throughout the years. The friend of the court has moved firmly into the judicial branch and, since 1982, has been exclusively a circuit court office appointed by the chief judge. One thing remains the same – the friend of the court is a lifeline to families in what can be their darkest hours.
Families can be fragile in the best of circumstances. Children born out of wedlock without a legal father may have little access to their father and no support from him. Children born out of wedlock with a legal father may have little to no stable environment. Children of divorced parents may suffer a more severe impact because their parents’ breakup can be bitter and suddenly create an absent parent where formerly there were two parents. Families in separation struggle economically and emotionally. They try to navigate what can seem like an ocean of troubles during a storm. When troubles become too great, the friend of the court is like a life raft, floating in an ocean of troubles severe enough to sink a ship. The parents and children cling to the raft for survival. The friend of the court, like the life raft, is not perfect. It still has to operate in the same turbulent waters that caused the wreck in the first place, and it, too, is subject to the waves and violence emanating from those troubled waters. Expectations of families that they can successfully navigate the situation are high, despite the evident turmoil, and the friend of the court is subject to scorn and disillusionment if problems persists. Still the friend of the court is the life raft, and it is there for the family when all others abandon them.
When first Wayne county and then the legislature created the friend of the court, it was an act of grace to a disadvantaged population. They recognized that humans are entitled to the opportunity to have dignity no matter their station in life and that the court is uniquely situated to give them that opportunity. They recognized that the court could protect the most vulnerable – the young, the poor, those devoid of representation, and they recognized the need to be proactive to see that the court had the knowledge to protect them. Thus, the friend of the court was born of compassion, and today it lives by compassion.
From its humble beginnings as a monitor, today’s friend of the court has grown to assume parts of a number of different functions. Its 2,000 employees serve the court and the public in a number of official and unofficial roles. In any given circuit, the friend of the court employees act as a lawyer, a counselor, a mediator, an investigator, a law enforcement officer, an accountant, a banker, a cheerleader, and a coach. They are sounding boards, educators, navigators… and yes, skeptics, critics, and probation officers. The friend of the court in all these roles continues to help give dignity and support to Michigan’s families. The job does not stop there. Continuously the friend of the court finds new and more effective ways to help Michigan’s families, and its role is ever expanding.
And so, today began as it has every workday for the last 100 years. Tired workers wake up too early and rub the sleep from their eyes. From the bitter cold and snow of Upper Peninsula winters to the sweltering heat and congestion of Motown traffic, through the fruit belt, state forests, and miles of farmland, they make their ways to the county seat and open the doors to begin a new day of dealing with the fragile remnants of a troubled family – all the while taking on others’ troubles as their own. And, because those friend of the court workers are there, those problems are solved:
Today a 35-year-old Muskegon man has the first job he has ever held in his life – because of the friend of the court;
- A young man from Kalamazoo County can talk thankfully about how his mother was able to afford to raise him – because of help from the friend of the court;
- A Chippewa County woman who is estranged from her children will have a chance to rebuild the relationship – because of the friend of the court;
- An Ionia County woman, remembering how she only realized she was a victim of domestic violence because of the friend of the court, goes to work for the friend of the court to help others; and
- A Wayne County woman, barely old enough to be called an adult herself, can hold her head high because she is able to support her child with the help of his father – because of the friend of the court.
Sam Walter Foss wrote the poem, “The House by the Side of the
Road.” Its words encapsulate the spirit
of those who serve as friends of the court:
That
house by the side of the road, my friends, is the courthouse; and that friend
to man is the friend of the court. For
100 years the friend of the court has served those most in need, suffered as
they suffered, rejoiced as they rejoiced, and in many cases has used its
position to help transform their lives beyond any measure of success they may
have imagined. Congratulations to you on
your 100th anniversary. May God bless
you, and your staffs, and may God bless the state of Michigan.
Let me live in a house by the side of
the road,
Where the race of men go by—
The men who are good and the men who
are bad,
As good and as bad as I.
I would not sit in the scorner’s
seat,
Or hurl the cynic’s ban;—
Let me live in a house by the side of
the road
And be a friend to man.
I see from my house by the side of
the road,
By the side of the highway of life,
The men who press with the ardor of
hope,
The men who are faint with the
strife.
But I turn not away from their smiles
nor their tears—
Both parts of an infinite plan;—
Let me live in my house by the side
of the road
And be a friend to man.
I know there are brook-gladdened
meadows ahead
And mountains of wearisome height;
That the road passes on through the
long afternoon
And stretches away to the night.
But still I rejoice when the
travelers rejoice,
And weep with the strangers that
moan,
Nor live in my house by the side of
the road
Like a man who dwells alone.
Let me live in my house by the side
of the road
Where the race of men go by—
They are good, they are bad, they are
weak, they are strong,
Wise, foolish— so am I.
Then why should I sit in the
scorner’s seat
Or hurl the cynic’s ban?—
Let me live in my house by the side
of the road
And be a friend to man.
Steve
Capps is director of the Friend of the Court Bureau. His staff is the primary source of management
support for Michigan's friend of the court offices and family division courts
and advises the Michigan Supreme Court and its staff regarding state and
federal statutes and regulations that affect family law issues. Before coming to SCAO, Mr. Capps served as a
friend of the court for Branch County and as a referee and a domestic relations
mediator for the circuit courts in Calhoun and Branch counties. A past president of the Branch County Bar
Association, he currently serves as a member of the program leadership group
for Michigan's child support program.