From Survivors to Changemakers: Arizona Safe Parents Organization Steps Up for Family Court Reform
Across Arizona, a growing coalition of protective parents is refusing to stay silent about the failures of the family court system. These survivors have joined together to form the Arizona Safe Parents Organization (ASPO)—a new advocacy group working to reform laws and shift priorities from parental rights to child safety. I had the opportunity to sit down with ASPO to learn more about who they are, how they got started, and where they’re headed. What follows is their story, in their own words.
Meet the Founders
Can you introduce yourselves and share a bit about your backgrounds?
We are a coalition of Arizona parents and survivors who have personally experienced or are experiencing the failures of the family court system. We come from all walks of life, including healthcare professionals, public service workers, students, and volunteers. We are parents who tried to protect our children from domestic violence and abuse and found ourselves punished for doing so. We have witnessed firsthand how the systems meant to protect families and children often do the opposite. Some of us have been entrenched for years and some of us have only just begun being abused by the system. Our core leadership team represents each political branch and recognizes that this is a bipartisan issue that everyone aligns with.
Tell us about the name of your group or nonprofit. How did you choose it?
We chose the name Arizona Safe Parents Organization (ASPO) to align with National Safe Parents Organization and Tennessee Safe Parents Organization, who we have witnessed doing amazing work in Tennessee. The name reflects our core belief: children are safest when their protective parent(s) is/are supported and empowered. We wanted to center the safety of both parents and children, because the two are inextricably linked. While we believe Family Court often discriminates against women, we also want people to know that we are gender neutral and children come first. We believe children have a right to safe, age and developmental stage-appropriate parenting time arrangements.
How would you describe your mission in one or two sentences?
ASPO advocates for a child-first, trauma-informed family court system that protects children from abuse, domestic violence, and coercive control. We are working to reform legislation, policies, and practices that punish protective parents and endanger children. We do not support the term “parental alienation” as it is used as a legal strategy by abusers to take children from safe parents, and has been rejected by the APA as a psychological disorder. We are focused on child safety regardless of the gender of the safe parent. In addition to family court reform, we’ve also addressed the roles of the Department of Child Safety and law enforcement in these cases, especially where their actions intersect with or impact family court outcomes.
When did you officially launch your organization?
We officially launched earlier this year, 2025. We are still in the early phases. We are working on becoming a non-profit organization. For now, our efforts are self-funded.
What roles do each of you hold in the group, and how do you divide the work?
Our team is collaborative, with members taking on roles based on their strengths, availability, and willingness. We have a few members focused on legislative research, survivor outreach, media advocacy, court monitoring, and coalition-building. We have a small team that works together to coordinate strategy, review materials, and ensure that we make decisions together. We vote on important issues and we make sure all voices are heard and considered.
The Origin Story
Can you share what initially brought you all together?
We want to give a shoutout to the One Mom’s Battle – Arizona Chapter, where many of us first connected. Before finding that group, we were each fighting our battles alone. It all started with just a few people who had an idea, made a post, and others began to join in. Some of us invited friends who were going through similar struggles, and the community grew from there. For many of us, OMB became the first place where we felt truly seen and heard—a safe space to come together, share our stories, and start advocating for change. We came together through a shared sense of outrage and grief, each carrying our own devastating story of family court failure. What united us was the heartbreaking reality that so many Arizona families were suffering in silence.
Was there a specific moment or event that convinced you it was time to take collective action?
I don’t think so. We each had small sparks, and as we connected, those sparks grew into a powerful flame. The tragic murders of children, like Alec and Lydia Mater here in Surprise, AZ, the Decker sisters, and Rowan Morey, after family court ignored clear warning signs, only strengthened our resolve. These deaths were preventable. The system isn’t broken; it’s operating exactly as designed, and that design must change. Laws need to be reformed, and judges and court professionals must be held accountable.
What was the biggest frustration you were experiencing in the Arizona family court system before you started this group?
The most frustrating part is how courts prioritize parental contact over child safety—labeling abuse disclosures as “high conflict,” forcing contact with abusers, and ignoring the trauma involved. The presumption of joint custody, even in cases involving documented violence or coercive control, is especially harmful. Courts often allow unsupervised visitation for abusers and, in some cases, remove children from safe parents and place them with the abusers, effectively legitimizing the harm. Claims of “parental alienation” are frequently used to strip children of their protective parent. Family Courts fail to recognize or acknowledge that many of these so-called “high conflict” cases are actually instances of post-separation abuse.
How did those early conversations about “doing something” evolve into founding a nonprofit?
It began with shared stories, similar postings, and giving advice. Then we started some private chats for anyone from OMB that wanted to join. Eventually, we realized we needed to do more. To make the impact we envisioned, we needed structure, credibility, and legal standing. Forming a nonprofit is giving us the platform to move from survivors to advocates, and to be taken seriously by lawmakers and media.
What challenges did you face in getting organized at the start?
We face challenges every day—trauma and burnout are very real. Many of us are still involved in active litigation and/or healing from years of abuse and legal retaliation. Finding the emotional bandwidth, securing funding, and creating safe spaces to organize is difficult—but necessary. While funding remains a concern, we’re all pitching in and supporting one another.
Strategy and Impact
How did you decide what your first priorities or goals would be?
We are listening closely to survivors, comparing our own experiences, and identifying patterns in court outcomes. Our priorities are: (1) legislative reform to protect children from abusive parents, (2) accountability for biased or unethical judges and custody evaluators, and (3) education for the public about the real dangers in family court. Our very first goal was simply to form a support group.
Can you talk about the process of building support or recruiting other volunteers?
We’re still in the building phase, and much of our growth has happened organically. Most of our volunteers connected with us through One Mom’s Battle, word of mouth, or social media. By sharing our stories publicly, we created space for others to come forward and feel less alone. To protect the integrity of our group and the safety of survivors, we’ve implemented a vetting process that allows participants to engage at their own pace. We operate both a public page to raise awareness and share information and a private space focused on support, safety, and connection.
How did you learn to navigate the advocacy, legislative, or policy space?
We are teaching ourselves through collaboration, trial and error, leaning on each other's strengths, and by connecting with national leaders like those behind Kyra’s Law and Piqui’s Law. We have contacted our local domestic violence advocates, senators, representatives, and other advocacy groups. We studied Arizona statutes and are watching how other policy campaigns built momentum. This is definitely a work in progress.
Were there any mentors, allies, or organizations that helped you along the way? Yes. We have watched what others are doing. One Mom’s Battle, National Safe Parents, Tennessee Safe Parents Organization (TSPO). TSPO leaders were very responsive and helpful in our start up. We have scoured other advocacy pages and groups for information. Through these connections, we’ve discovered amazing advocates like Dr. Bandy Lee. We will be reaching out to Kyra’s Champions and The Kyra Franchetti Foundation. A couple of local advocates have been helpful as well. We attend meetings, conduct research, and put in the necessary work—because meaningful change doesn’t just happen on its own.
How did you approach building credibility with the public or decision-makers? We ground everything in facts, statutes, and survivor experience. We built timelines, gathered evidence, submitted formal complaints, and spoke directly to legislators. We made sure our voices were professional, informed, and impossible to ignore.
Accomplishments
What do you consider your biggest accomplishments so far? We helped bring national attention to Arizona’s family crisis. Our voices helped get the ball rolling with the Arizona Joint Ad Hoc Committee on Family Court Orders. That has started a chain reaction throughout the country.
Can you tell us about the ad hoc committee that was set up to investigate family court? What was your group’s role in making that happen?
Honestly, we thought all hope was lost. The family court bills that other advocates had helped write were all dead, except one. Our testimonies and written submissions to the legislature helped spark bipartisan concern. Our members contacted Senator Finchem directly and some other parents were in direct contact with Representatives Keshel and Fink. They showed a passion for helping parents in family court. We worked behind the scenes to organize families, notify other parents, and compile data. We also helped recruit witnesses and ensure survivor voices were heard. We shared everything we could on social media to get the stories out there and get attention and publicity.
How has your advocacy been received by Arizona lawmakers or the courts?
It’s been mixed. Some lawmakers have been deeply moved by the stories we've shared and committed to reform. Others have shown little interest so far. We’re working to meet with all of them to discuss solutions, identify barriers, and build understanding. Our approach is multifaceted—we’re engaging with legislators, participating in the Committee on Family Court, and collaborating with domestic violence advocacy organizations like ACESDV. We are also involved with other local advocates so we can all be on the same page. We want to work with everyone that wants to make positive change. While some judges have pushed back against protective parents, that resistance hasn’t been directed at our advocacy group specifically. Public support, on the other hand, continues to grow. With each story we share, more parents reach out for help—and more people begin to understand the urgent need for change.
What has surprised you about the progress you’ve made so far?
How quickly momentum can build once survivors speak in unison and someone finally listens. We thought it would take years to get attention—but within a year, we were testifying at state hearings, giving media interviews, and meeting with policy advisors.
Are there any other initiatives or victories you would like to share? We helped educate parents about their rights under Arizona’s “significant domestic violence” statutes, raised funds for protective parents needing expert witnesses, and contributed to national databases documenting child deaths linked to custody decisions.
Vision for the Future
What are your top priorities for the next year?
Our goals include passing Kyra’s Law, Kayden’s Law, and Piqui’s Law–style legislation here in Arizona. We also support legislation that requires comprehensive domestic violence intervention programs for offenders, mandates training for lawmakers and judges on coercive control, expands protections for children in supervised visitation programs, establishes clear qualifications and oversight for supervised visitation providers, ensures children have a voice in court proceedings, and holds courts, court professionals, and DCS accountable when they ignore documented abuse. We intend to educate judges and lawmakers that shared legal decision making is never appropriate in domestic violence cases, as supported by the Saunders study. In addition, we aim to provide support and education for parents at the beginning of their journey—so they don’t have to navigate this system alone.
Where do you hope to see the Arizona family court system in five years?
We envision a system where instead of parental rights, child safety is the legal presumption and the priority. A system that recognizes coercive control as abuse and believes protective parents instead of punishing them. A trauma-informed court with genuine accountability—a complete overhaul of the current system that is causing harm every day.
How can other parents or allies in Arizona get involved or support your work?
Visit our website, email us, or follow us on social media to volunteer, donate, or share your story. Join us at the Capitol during legislative sessions. Contact your lawmakers and demand reform. Every voice matters.
What advice would you give to people in other states who want to start something similar?
Start small. Join your One Mom’s Battle State Chapter (www.ombchapters.com) and other local social media groups. Find your people. Ask who’s interested in advocating for change and reaching out to legislators. Start a group chat. Email legislators and other local advocates. You have to start somewhere. You don’t need to be established to make an impact or create momentum. And never underestimate the power of survivor-led advocacy. You don’t need anyone’s permission to protect your children or speak your truth. Most importantly, don’t give up.
Is there anything else you want people to know about your group, your mission, or this fight for reform?
We’re not just fighting for our own children—we’re fighting for yours, too. Family court reform isn’t a niche issue. It’s a public safety crisis. All over the world. We will not stop until every child in Arizona is safe. We hope to create meaningful change not only here but across the entire country.
