Rule 3.917.Court Appointed Special Advocate

MCR 3.917 creates a role that sits alongside the lawyers rather than among them. A court appointed special advocate is a volunteer whose job is to assess the case and tell the court what the volunteer thinks the child's best interests require. The rule covers appointment, screening, duties, term, and access to information, and it keeps each of those short.

Appointment

Subrule (A) makes two things clear. The appointment is discretionary, and it takes an order. The court may, upon entry of an appropriate order, appoint a volunteer special advocate to assess and make recommendations to the court concerning the best interests of the child. The reach is wide: the appointment is available in any matter pending in the family division, not only in child protective files.

Screening

Subrule (B) is a single sentence. All court appointed special advocates shall receive appropriate screening. The rule states the requirement without saying who conducts the screening or what it must cover.

Duties

Subrule (C) is the working heart of the rule. Each court appointed special advocate shall:

• maintain regular contact with the child;
• investigate the background of the case;
• gather information regarding the child's status;
• provide written reports to the court and all parties before each hearing; and
• appear at all hearings when required by the court.

Two details deserve attention. The written report goes to the court and to all parties, so the advocate's account is not delivered to the bench alone, and it is due before each hearing rather than on request. Appearance, by contrast, is conditioned on the court requiring it, which leaves the volunteer's attendance to the court's judgment about a given hearing.

Term

Subrule (D) sets no fixed end. A court appointed special advocate shall serve until discharged by the court. The appointment therefore survives from hearing to hearing without renewal, and it ends by order.

Access to information

Subrule (E) gives the advocate a path to the file that runs through the court. Upon appointment, the special advocate may be given access to all information, confidential or otherwise, contained in the court file if the court so orders. The two conditions are worth separating: access can extend to confidential material, and it exists only if the court so orders. The subrule closes with a coordination duty. The special advocate shall consult with the child's lawyer-guardian ad litem, which keeps the volunteer's work connected to the lawyer who represents the child rather than running parallel to it.