The Oakland County Board of Commissioners made the committee appointments in late May, despite a 1997 order from the state of Michigan for all counties to establish citizen advisory boards to Friend of the Court.
Oakland County Commissioner John Garfield, R-Rochester, said the county had a lot of questions on how to properly form the committee back in 1997 and was fighting the order because it was one of many unfunded mandates from the state that year.
Garfield said he has heard from countless parents who are frustrated at the system that is supposed to help mothers and fathers work out issues on custody, child support and parenting time.
"These cases I hear are tear jerkers. We spent millions of dollars tearing families apart in court and we don't spend millions putting them back together," Garfield said. "I hope this gives them a proper process."
Friend of the Court Joseph Salamone, who manages Oakland County's system, said the county will pay about $25,000 a year to keep the committee afloat. All members are unpaid volunteers.
Salamone, who was appointed in 1989, said Oakland County Friend of the Court has about 50,000 open cases at any given time and about 155 employees. He could not say what the caseload is per person, but according to a Detroit News investigation last year, Oakland's 75 child support case workers average 642 cases per staff member.
"I think the intent is probably good to improve the office," Salamone said of the committee. "If it were a great panacea more would be up and operating around the state. I think there was not a great outpouring of applications from people for the committee."
Salamone admitted that Friend of the Court may make a mistake on occasion, but when the government has to deal with people's lives there are always going to be unhappy customers, he said.
"When you are dealing with high volume cases and computer systems that are not adequate for the job, federal requirements that might not be understood, new laws increasing our responsibility -- it raises people's expectations," he said.
Dan Wilson, director of the parent and child advocacy group, Parents for Children, said parents should not expect immediate changes in a system that has been wrought with problems for decades. "This started 20 years ago and it's going to take 20 years to change them again. We need something to move forward and make sure children aren't lost to their parents, especially during their adolescent years when it's most important," Wilson said.
