If we the public can't see statistical summaries of FOC recommendations, then we

have no capacity to judge the fairness of any recommendation. A recommender may

willfully withhold all of the children they review from fathers, abusing his/her
position and endangering children, to satisfy his/her own prejudices in violation
of the Michigan Constitution. This is plainly a structural problem that the
legislature must address.

We need to approach the legislature with a simple, free, proposal to resolve this.
Here's my first cut:

Friend of the Court Sunshine Act (Proposed)

The Friend of the Court Act Shall Be Amended to add a section, whose contents
shall be:

For each local Friend of the court, and for each person who prepares 50 or more
custody recommendations for a Friend of the Court in a Michigan fiscal year (MCL
522.507a), the State Court Administrative Office shall publish, including
electronically, a yearly statistical summary of the recommendations made by that
person. That summary shall include:

a) The name of the person

b) The name of the Friend of the Court
c) The number of recommendations made by that person
d) Statistical summaries of the recommended custody order, whether:
i) sole physical and legal custody for the mother
ii) sole physical custody for the mother, joint legal custody
iii) substantially equal physical and legal custody for the mother and father
iv) sole physical custody for the father, joint legal custody
v) sole physical and legal custody for the father
vi) physical custody by a third party

$50,000 of the first $5,000,000 received by Michigan from federal incentive

payments (US Code Title 42 Section 658a) shall be allocated for this purpose, as
it relates to "services relating to the establishment of paternity or the
establishment, modification, or enforcement of child support obligations" (US COde
Title 42, Section 654, Paragraph 4, Subparagraph A.

For each judge that rules on 50 or more custody matters in a Michigan fiscal year,
the State Court Administrative Office shall publish, including electronically, a
statistical summary of that judge's custody rulings. That summary shall include
the same statistical information as the recommendations report.

$50,000 of the second $5,000,000 received by Michigan from federal incentive

payments (US Code Title 42 Section 658a) shall be allocated for this purpose, as
it relates to "services relating to the establishment of paternity or the
establishment, modification, or enforcement of child support obligations" (US COde
Title 42, Section 654, Paragraph 4, Subparagraph A.

For each local Friend of the court, and for each person who processes and
completes 50 or more requests for modification of child support pursuant to MCL
552.517, Section 17, d, in a Michigan fiscal year, the State Court Administrative
Office shall publish, including electronically, a yearly statistical summary of
the decisions made by that person. That summary shall include:

a) The name of the person

b) The name of the Friend of the Court
c) The total number of requests for child support modification processed by that
person from payors
i) the number for which the person determined that the order is due for review
ii) the number for which the person determined that the order is not due for
review
d) The number of requests for child support modification processed by that person
from payees
i) the number for which the person determined that the order is due for review
ii) the number for which the person determined that the order is not due for
review

$50,000 of the third $5,000,000 received by Michigan from federal incentive

payments (US Code Title 42 Section 658a) shall be allocated for this purpose, as
it relates to "services relating to the establishment of paternity or the
establishment, modification, or enforcement of child support obligations" (US COde
Title 42, Section 654, Paragraph 4, Subparagraph A.

For each local Friend of the court, and for each person who processes and
completes 50 or more alleged custody or parenting time order violation pursuant to
MCL 522.641, Section 41 in a Michigan fiscal year, the State Court Administrative
Office shall publish, including electronically, a yearly statistical summary of
the decisions made by that person. That summary shall include:

a) The name of the person

b) The name of the Friend of the Court
c) The number of alleged parenting time order violations processed by that person
d) The number for which the makeup parenting time was applied
e) The number for which the person commenced civil contempt proceedings
f) The number for which the person filed a motino with the court for a
modification of existing parenting time provisions to ensure parenting time
g) The number for which the person scheduled mediation
h) The number for which the person scheduled a joint meeting
i) The number for which the person declined to respond to an alleged custody or
parenting time order violation because the party submitting the complaint had
previously submitted 2 or more complaints that were found to be unwarranted, costs
were assessed against that party, and that party has not paid the costs
j) The number for which the person declined to respond to an alleged custody or
parenting time order violation because the alleged custody or parenting time order
violation occurred more than 56 days before the complaint is submitted.
k) The number for which the person declined to respond to an alleged custody or
parenting time order violation because the custody or parenting time order does
not include an enforceable provision that is relevant to the custody or parenting
time order violation alleged in the complaint.
l) The number for which the person failed to follow MCL 522.641, Section 41.

The number in c above shall equal the sum of the numbers d-l.

$50,000 of the first $500,000 received by Michigan from federal Grants to States
for access and visitation programs (US Code Title 42 § 669b. ) shall be allocated
for this purpose, as it relates to "to enable States to establish and administer
programs to support and facilitate noncustodial parents¢ access to and visitation
of their children,"

The State Court Administrators Office shall publish, including electronically, a

report of use of federal Grants to States for access and visitation programs (US
Code Title 42 § 669b. ). That report shall include:

a) The total amount of the grant

b) The total amount of the grant used for mediation
i) voluntary
ii) mandatory
c) counseling
i) of non-custodial parents
ii) of custodial parents
iii) group counseling of both parents together
iv) of children
d) education
i) of non-custodial parents
ii) of custodial parents
iii) group counseling of both parents together
iv) of children
e) development of parenting plans
f) visitation enforcement
i) monitoring
ii) supervision
iii) neutral drop-off and pickup
g) development of guidelines for visitation
h) alternative custody arrangements
i) Other

The total from a shall equal the totals of b-i.

For each expenditure or category over 5% of the total, the SCAO shall also include
a summary of the expenditure and how it is used.

For each grant category above for which there is no expenditure, the SCAO shall
include a summary of why the grant money was not used to "establish and administer
programs" in that category.

Each local Friend of the court, shall cooperate with the SCAO in maintaining a
complete record of grievances and transmitting them annually to the bureau. The
SCAO shall publish a report of all information received annually.

$50,000 of the fourth $5,000,000 received by Michigan from federal incentive

payments (US Code Title 42 Section 658a) shall be allocated for this purpose, as
it relates to "services relating to the establishment of paternity or the
establishment, modification, or enforcement of child support obligations" (US COde
Title 42, Section 654, Paragraph 4, Subparagraph A.

Penalties for failing to comply.

For each local friend of the court, the SCAO shall determine the extent to which
it complies with each of the reporting requirements above. For each report above,
for which a local office fails to report, the SCAO shall deduct 1% of all payments
to that local office. For partial compliance, it shall deduct 0.5%. Should a
local friend of the court fail to report in the same categories for 2 years, the
deduction shall be increased by 25%. Should a local friend of the court fail to
report in the same categories for 3 years, the deduction shall be increased by
50%. Under no circumstances shall the deduction exceed 10% of the total payments
to that office.

All of the deducted payments shall be used to create a voluntary statewide

internet based automated electronic request processing system for the direct
processing and monitoring of child support modification requests, alleged
parenting time violations, and grievances by parents. Such a system shall allow
parents to make, track, and review requests online. Each local Friend of the
Court may voluntarily use such a system, and the system will automatically
generate the reports required above to keep that office in compliance. Should
that system fail to generate the correct reports, the local office is still liable
for deducted payments, but such deductions shall be distributed to those local
friend of the court offices that are in compliance.