Family Court Reform: Putting Children First
As Governor of Arizona, I believe our family court system must operate with fairness, due process, transparency, and a focus on the best interests of children. While courts play an important role in protecting children from genuine harm, parents should not lose meaningful access to their children without appropriate legal standards, evidence, and due process protections.
Too many families find themselves trapped in lengthy court proceedings where parental conflict, legal delays, and administrative backlogs can keep children separated from loving parents for months or even years. When adults are engaged in disputes, children are often the ones who suffer the most.
I will support reforms that improve court efficiency, reduce unnecessary delays, increase access to mediation and conflict resolution services, and ensure that decisions affecting parent-child relationships are based on facts, evidence, and the rule of law. Families deserve a system that resolves cases promptly while protecting the rights of parents and, most importantly, the well-being of children.
Children should not bear the emotional cost of prolonged legal battles. Whenever it is safe and appropriate, children benefit from having healthy relationships with both parents. My administration will work to strengthen accountability within the family court system, promote timely case resolution, and ensure that Arizona's laws are applied fairly and consistently.
Arizona families deserve a family court system that protects children, respects parental rights, and delivers justice without unnecessary delay. As Governor, I will make family court reform a priority because strong families are the foundation of strong communities.
Protecting Children, Supporting Families
Teri Ann Hourihan for AZ Governor. Arizona’s family court system has earned a reputation for putting too many families through long, painful custody battles. Parents can spend months or years fighting for time with their children while paying for court-ordered services, evaluations, and supervised visitation. When families feel trapped in a system that seems to reward delay rather than resolution, confidence in justice is lost. We have to ask ourselves: Why does money so often seem to drive systems that are supposed to protect children and families? Why are profits and bureaucracy allowed to overshadow the well-being of parents and kids? Those are questions I continue to ask. As Governor, I will fight for greater transparency, accountability, and reforms that put the best interests of children first. Families deserve a system focused on fairness, timely decisions, and reunification whenever it is safe and appropriate—not one that leaves them feeling financially and emotionally drained. Arizona families deserve better, and I intend to fight for them every day.