Women’s History: Early Female Friend of the Court Director

By Amy Lindholm, SCAO-FOCB Management Analyst and Pundit editor

Maria Peel

Women have a played an important role in Michigan’s child support program from its very early days.

Michigan’s child support program began in 1918, when the 3rd Circuit Court in Wayne County appointed an attorney to the friend of the court role to assist the court in domestic relations cases. State legislation passed in 1919, instituting friend of the court in every county.

By 1931, friends of the court from 42 different circuits worked together to form the Friend of the Court Association (FOCA). Maria Peel represented Washtenaw County at the first FOCA meeting at the Hotel Olds in Lansing, one of only two women at that first meeting of 15 friends of the court. She was appointed secretary-treasurer of FOCA.