Child Welfare Workers and Michigan's Family Court Legislation: The Relationship Between Policy and Practice

ABSTRACT Michigan created a family court in 1998, combining in a single court jurisdiction over most family law cases. This study examines the child welfare workers' role in creating the family court, the family court's impact on child welfare workers' practice, and child welfare workers' efforts to educate other professionals on the potential benefits of the family court system. This study found that child welfare workers were not actively involved in the creation of the family court and have not aggressively sought to educate other professionals regarding the family court's potential. Further, though child welfare workers' reception of the family court has largely been positive (or at least neutral), child welfare workers must take greater advantage of the family court system to improve the effectiveness of their practice.