Thank You!

I would like to thank all members who attended the annual RAM conference at The H Hotel in May of 2023.  We had record-setting attendance with 82 Referees from all over the state participating.  The conference received rave reviews in evaluations complimenting the hotel, speakers, food, and content.  With a look toward future conferences, Referees hoped for new content, including more juvenile-specific content, and suggested various new locations.

We announced our conference location for RAM Conference 2024, at the Grand Hotel, Mackinac Island, on May 15, 2024 – May 17, 2024.  Please mark your calendars and plan to join us.  I am excited for our membership to experience a new venue coupled with some great speakers and guests. 

Our Board is going into their second year of their terms and reflects as follows:

Aggravated circumstances are not necessarily new to neglect cases, however, the appellate courts have been focusing on this and other issues arising in the child welfare arena lately.  A review and examination of the law as it presently stands may be helpful.
 
What are aggravated circumstances?  They refer to statutorily defined conduct that, when found by the judicial officer, removes the requirement of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (“the Department”) to provide reasonable efforts towards reunification and relieves the agency of the obligation to provide services to the parent.  Aggravated circumstances are found in two statutes, MCL 712A.19a(2) and MCL 722.638.  The first is the permanency planning statute and the second is part of the child protection law.  Many of the aggravated circumstances are similar to the grounds for termination of parental rights in MCL 712A.19b(3).

The following are pending proposed changes to the Michigan Court Rules:

ADM File 2022-03: Proposed Amendment of MCR 1.109
This ADM file would allow parties and attorneys to identify their personal pronouns and would require courts to use those pronouns both verbally and in writing, unless doing so would result in an unclear record. This ADM was issued January 18, 2023 and the comment period expired May 1, 2023.

The public comment period lasted for 103 days and while most proposed court rules receive single-digit comments, this proposed rule received 433 comments during the allotted period, another 11 comments were entered after the deadline, totaling 444 comments as of August 31, 2023.

​The proposed rule presented in full is as follows:

Parties and attorneys may also include any personal pronouns in the name section of the caption, and courts are required to use those personal pronouns when referring to or identifying the party or attorney, either verbally or in writing. Nothing in this subrule prohibits the court from using the individual’s name or other respectful means of addressing the individual if doing so will help ensure a clear record.

A public hearing was held on June 7, 2023.

ADM File 2021-10: Proposed Amendment of the Michigan Rules of Evidence
The Proposed amendment would restyle the MREs in an effort to remain as consistent as possible with the 2011 restyling of the Federal Rules of Evidence. This ADM was issued on March 22, 2203 and the comment period expired July 1, 2023.

The relevant proposed changes can be found here.