Michigan's Legislature, the Feds, the DOJ, and the Supreme Court All Flagged the Same Problem. Kalamazoo's FOC Kept Issuing Bench Warrants.

A timeline of warnings that went ignored. From the Supreme Court in 2011 to the state legislature in 2020, every level of government studied the issue. Kalamazoo County families are still living with the consequences.

KALAMAZOO, Mich., April 1, 2026 — The timeline is difficult to explain away. In 2011, the Supreme Court required safeguards before jailing parents for child support. In 2015, a federally funded study proved bench warrants reduce payment. In 2016, the federal government changed the rules. The same year the DOJ warned that jailing people who cannot pay may violate the Constitution.

In 2020, Michigan's own legislature took a look. The Joint Task Force on Jail and Pretrial Incarceration, working with the Michigan Supreme Court, examined civil contempt for child support as one of the drivers filling Michigan's jails. The evidence was already overwhelming. Incarceration for child support disrupts employment, reduces future payments, and disproportionately affects Black fathers.

Every level of government has studied this. Every level reached the same conclusion. The practice continues.

In Kalamazoo County, the FOC operates with no independent oversight. There is no Citizen Advisory Committee. The grievance process has not ruled in favor of a single citizen in five years. And the enforcement tools being used on Kalamazoo families are the same tools that researchers, federal regulators, the DOJ, the Supreme Court, and the state legislature have all flagged as harmful.

This is not a story about one bad office. It is a story about a county where every warning was available, every finding was published, and nothing changed for the families going through the system.

“Five warnings from five levels of government over fifteen years. Kalamazoo families are still waiting for someone to listen.,” stated Kalamazoo Transparency Act.