Leaked audio transcripts obtained through fatherswhofight.com have exposed Benny Clark Jr, a Domestic Case Enforcement Officer at the Kalamazoo County Friend of the Court, berating a father whose bank account had just been seized.

The recording begins with standard intake. Name, case number, the usual formalities. Then, moments later, Clark shifts tone entirely:

"First of all let me tell you something bro, your due process is not being violated."

Then this:

"The the the feds had to lean your bank account to get some money on this case."

That is a government enforcement officer calling a parent "bro" while explaining that federal agencies drained his bank account.

The father went on to tell Clark that he was never given an ability to pay hearing before the seizure and raised ongoing issues with his case, including a Department of Child Safety finding in Arizona that determined the mother to be mentally unfit. None of it mattered. He logged into his bank and the money was gone.

The Kalamazoo Press has obtained the full recording. It runs over eight minutes. What you are reading today comes from just moments past the opening formalities.

There is more. Much more.

He Is Not the Only One

Benny Clark Jr is not an isolated case. He is a pattern.

Parents across Kalamazoo County have described encounters with FOC enforcement officers who refuse to hear them, dismiss their documentation, and treat due process like an inconvenience. Fathers and mothers. In state and out of state. Some who tried to comply and were punished anyway.

One mother from out of state was subjected to enforcement action by this office. Her son was later murdered.

The Kalamazoo Press is actively investigating multiple accounts involving Clark and other officers within the Kalamazoo County FOC. The audio obtained through fatherswhofight.com is one recording. We believe there are more.

'The Feds Did It.' The Feds Said Stop.

Clark told this father that "the feds" seized his bank account. He said it casually. Almost proudly.

But here is what the federal government has actually been telling states like Michigan for over a decade: stop doing this.

The Office of Child Support Enforcement issued formal guidance following the 2011 Supreme Court ruling in Turner v. Rogers, establishing that states must provide ability to pay hearings before enforcement action. The guidance states:

"Contempt is not, nor should it be, standard or routine child support practice."

The federal agency requires that courts make an "express finding that the noncustodial parent has the ability to pay" before proceeding. States must provide written notice, financial documentation forms, a hearing opportunity, and written findings on the record.

In 2016, the federal government went further. The Flexibility, Efficiency, and Modernization Final Rule reformed child support enforcement nationally, specifically targeting the punitive practices that offices like Kalamazoo's continue to use.

Benny Clark Jr told a father the feds seized his account. The feds told states to stop seizing accounts without due process. Someone is not listening.

The Research Says It Does Not Work

This is not just federal policy. The research is clear.

A Minnesota pilot study on driver's license suspension for child support found a 4 percentage point reduction in payment compliance during the first six months. The enforcement tool designed to force payment actually made parents pay less.

A University of Wisconsin study found "negative associations or no associations" between license suspension and child support payments. No improvement in earnings. No improvement in employment.

The Congressional Research Service reported that critics call these enforcement tools "counterproductive" because they "lessen a person's ability to keep a job or find work and thus lessen the person's ability to fulfill his or her child support obligation."

Seize someone's bank account without warning. Suspend their license without a hearing. Then wonder why collections are falling.

Kalamazoo County Collections Are Falling

While officers like Clark deploy punitive enforcement without due process, the numbers tell the story the FOC will not.

  • 2020: 69% collection rate (State average: 74%)
  • 2021: 68% collection rate (State average: 72%)
  • 2022: 64% collection rate (State average: 67%)
  • 2023: 65% collection rate (State average: 68%)
  • 2024: 65% collection rate (State average: 68%)
  • 2025: 65% collection rate (State average: 68%)

Six straight years below the statewide average. A 4 point decline while the federal government, academic researchers, and the office's own data all say the same thing: punitive enforcement does not work.

The Kalamazoo County FOC denied 100% of parent grievances from 2020 through 2024. In 2022, the office classified 83% of all grievances as "nongrievable," a rate 3.6 times the statewide average. No parent received relief. No corrective action was taken. The office has no independent Citizen Advisory Committee.

The system is not broken. It is working exactly the way Benny Clark Jr runs it.

Comment Requested

The Kalamazoo Press has sent a formal request for comment to the Kalamazoo County Friend of the Court regarding the contents of this recording and the enforcement practices documented in this report.

This article will be updated with any response received.

Have You Dealt With Benny Clark Jr?

If you or anyone you know has had an encounter with Benny Clark Jr at the Kalamazoo County Friend of the Court, we want to hear from you. Any year. Any case. Email us at press@thekalamazoopress.com with the subject line "FOC BENNY STORY".

Your identity will be protected.

Collection rate data sourced from [Kalamazoo Transparency Act](https://www.kalamazootransparencyact.com/press/kalamazoo-foc-enforcement-officer-earns-41-percent-above-coworkers-as-child-support-collections-decline). Federal guidance sourced from the [Office of Child Support Enforcement](https://acf.gov/archive/css/policy-guidance/turner-v-rogers-guidance) and the [2016 Final Rule](https://acf.gov/archive/css/policy-guidance/final-rule-flexibility-efficiency-and-modernization-child-support). Research sourced from [Minnesota Management and Budget](https://mn.gov/mmb/impact-evaluation/projects/drivers-license-suspension/), the [Institute for Research on Poverty](https://www.irp.wisc.edu/resource/license-suspension-and-civil-contempt-as-enforcement-tools/), and the [Congressional Research Service](https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/R41762.html). Audio transcripts obtained through [fatherswhofight.com](https://fatherswhofight.com).