State FOC Bureau Director Steven D. Capps Oversaw 100% Grievance Denial Rate in Kalamazoo While Collecting Awards and Blogging About Portal Metrics

Steven D. Capps holds one of the most powerful positions in Michigan's family court system. As Director of the Friend of the Court Bureau at the State Court Administrative Office, he operates under the Michigan Supreme Court and oversees FOC operations for all 75 counties in the state. His bureau publishes the annual grievance reports, trains new FOC employees, and handles complaints that parents escalate beyond the county level.

The data his own bureau publishes tells a story that Lansing has ignored.

From 2020 through 2024, the Kalamazoo County Friend of the Court denied or dismissed every grievance filed by a parent. 100 percent denial rate, five consecutive years. Zero complaints acknowledged in full. Zero acknowledged in part. Zero corrective actions. Zero policy changes. Zero employees disciplined. This is not a local anomaly hidden from the state. Steven D. Capps's bureau compiled these numbers and published them in annual reports available to every legislator in Lansing.

Statewide, the picture is not much better. 73 of Michigan's 75 FOC offices have no Citizen Advisory Committee providing independent oversight. The FOC investigates complaints filed against itself. The statewide nongrievable classification rate was 23 percent in 2022. Kalamazoo's was 83 percent, rejecting complaints at 3.6 times the state average. These are systemic failures, not county-level quirks.

The Michigan Legislature created the Friend of the Court Act (MCL 552.501-552.535). It established the grievance process under MCL 552.526. It gave counties the option to create Citizen Advisory Committees for independent oversight. 73 counties chose not to. The Legislature has not revisited this framework despite years of data showing the grievance process produces no results in counties like Kalamazoo.

While families across the state navigated a broken complaint system, Steven D. Capps was collecting recognition. In 2021, the Michigan Family Support Council awarded him its Outstanding Achievement Award (https://mifsc.org/awards-program/). MIFSC is the professional association for the same FOC officials and child support administrators whose offices the grievance system is supposed to hold accountable. The industry awarded itself.

In May 2020, with courthouses shuttered and FOC staff sent home during COVID, Capps published a blog post titled "An Awakening: Signs of Life after a Long Winter" on the Michigan Child Support Pundit (https://michildsupportpundit.blogspot.com/2020/05/an-awakening-signs-of-life-after-long.html). He celebrated 300,000 additional portal visits and a 28 percent increase in email opt-ins. He wrote: "Here's to spring; here's to growth. Here's to Michigan's child support professionals." Parents who could not get a hearing, could not reach a caseworker, and could not file a grievance that would be reviewed were reduced to portal traffic numbers in a blog post by the man running their complaint system.

In February 2026, Capps led a statewide training webinar for FOC staff with two years or less experience (https://legalnews.com/Home/Articles?DataId=1593071). The curriculum included "Customer Service and Practical Tips." In April 2026, one of his bureau's own staff members, Gracee G. Wisniewski, a part-time law clerk, denied a father's complaint against the Kalamazoo FOC without substantive review. The pattern continued.

This is a state-level accountability failure. The FOC Bureau sits inside the judicial branch. The Legislature created the laws governing it. Neither branch has acted on five years of data showing the grievance system has failed in Kalamazoo County. No hearing has been called. No oversight reform has been proposed. No one in Lansing has publicly addressed why a state director can preside over a 100 percent denial rate, receive an award from the industry he regulates, and face no scrutiny from any elected body.

On April 8, 2026, the Kalamazoo Transparency Act submitted a press inquiry to the FOC Bureau. Steven D. Capps's office has not responded.

The full press release with sourced data is available at https://www.kalamazootransparencyact.com/press.