| Awareness | Advocacy | Accountability | Accessiblity
| Awareness | Advocacy | Accountability | Accessiblity
A4 Safety Alliance is dedicated to reforming family court systems to protect children from abuse. We combine survivor-informed research, expert collaboration, and policy advocacy to expose systemic failures and push for trauma-informed, evidence-based reforms. Our work drives accountability and centers child safety—where it belongs.
For Media and Press inquiries email: evangeline@a4safetyalliance.org
“Unfortunately, courts often don’t do a great job recognizing signs of abuse
and degree of risk due to lack of high-quality training on abuse subjects for judges and court professionals,”
said Evangeline Stratton, A4 Safety Alliance & the former senior managing attorney at
Family Violence Appellate Project Washington.
Emerson and other are now calling for a review of Washington's Amber Alert system protocols and a deeper look at how the family court system can better protect children from harm. - KOMO NEWS
“I only needed one person in family court to listen to me, and not one person did,” Sherlock said. - Kiro 7 News
“A bipartisan group of Washington lawmakers has called on the state to reform its AMBER alert system” - @spokesmanreview
State Lawmakers call for Amber Alert Reform after the Tragedy in Chelan County
“In light of the recent events that have shaken our state my heart is grieving,” said Tamara Emerson, the executive director of A4 Safety Alliance and co-founder of End Child Abuse WA. “We are here because every child deserves to be safe and we know change begins when we come together, encourage and care."
Rep. Amy Walen, D-Kirkland, said lawmakers have a “solemn responsibility to face the question”
- of how current judicial and law enforcement systems may have failed to protect Kayden and the Decker sisters
"Also, we haven't yet committed to adopting a systemic view and approach to child safety. So we need to take what have already been identified as risk and protective factors — particularly in abuse cases — and apply strategies from legislation to community-based support that prevent harm to children."
— Evangeline Stratton, Attorney
A4 Safety Alliance for Scripps News
“The court should know how to protect children,” she said, “and they should be ruling in favor of children and not just protecting a parent's rights.”
— Tamara Emerson, A4 Safety Alliance | End Child Abuse WA
for The Center Square
“The tragedy is not just about one family - it’s about a system that fails to prioritize child safety. Judges must be madated to receive trauma-informed training ON ABUSE AND RISK. Travis Decker should never have had unsupervised access. These girls should still be alive.”
Attorney Evangeline Stratton speaks to legislators about the urgent need for reform in family court custody proceedings, voicing strong opposition to HB 1620 as introduced in the House in 2025.
Evangeline Stratton, former senior managing attorney for the Washington Family Violence Appellate Project, told lawmakers she fears the bill will decrease protections for survivors and their children.
“It enhances judicial discretion without any required judicial training and solidifies the false equivalency between abuse and other parenting behaviors,” Stratton said in testimony against the bill.
Stratton and other advocates told The Center Square that there is too much gray area for judges to ignore the harm that family violence causes everyone in the home.