BROKEN ARROW, Okla., (The Oklahoma Post) –July 20, 2025
In Oklahoma’s legislative history, few family law efforts have drawn the urgency now surrounding Dr. Steve Hudgins’ newly proposed Custody Interference and Parental Alienation Reform Act. With its roots in the failed Senate Bill 970 (SB 970) of 2024, this new proposal seeks to expose what Hudgins and a growing number of mental health professionals now call a public health emergency: the unchecked emotional abuse of children through custody interference and parental alienation.
“The courtroom should not be a battleground where childhood is collateral damage.” – Dr. Steve Hudgins
Hudgins is not just a clinician, he’s a father who once lived through the very system he’s trying to reform.
Who Is Dr. Steve Hudgins?
Dr. Hudgins is a Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor (LPC-S), the founder of Mosaic Family Systems Theory (MFST), and a veteran advocate of shared parenting rights. His journey began in 1999, when he contacted then-Governor Frank Keating with a simple plea: let me see my children.
By 2001, he had helped influence the passage of the Oklahoma Equal Access Law. Now, nearly 25 years later, Hudgins says little has changed where it matters most:
“Too many parents are still silenced. Too many children are still weaponized. And too many courts remain passive bystanders to emotional abuse.”
SB 970: What Went Wrong
The original SB 970, introduced in 2024, was designed to address recurring custody violations and interference. Its aim was modest: grant courts more tools to respond to non-compliance with visitation orders. But the bill lacked precision, public backing, and a sense of urgency. Critics said it was reactive instead of preventative. And on May 29, 2024, SB 970 died in committee without ever reaching a floor vote.
No trauma-informed provisions.
No mention of parental alienation as abuse.
No defined judicial training.
No teeth.
It was, as Hudgins now calls it, “a procedural Band-Aid on a psychological hemorrhage.”
The New Proposal: What’s Different Now
In July 2025, Hudgins submitted a comprehensive reworking of the bill—now titled the Oklahoma Custody Interference and Parental Alienation Reform Act—to Senator Weaver and Representative West.
This is no longer about bureaucratic corrections. It’s about child safety, mental health, and legal accountability.
Key Provisions in the Reform Act:
- Criminal penalties for repeat interference—not just civil contempt.
- Legal recognition of parental alienation as a form of relational abuse, supported by clinical data.
- Emergency court authority to intervene before irreversible emotional damage.
- Mandated training for judges and child welfare workers in trauma-informed custody cases.
- Cross-agency enforcement through DHS, DPS, AOC, and the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office.
- Integration of real-world stories from Oklahoma parents who’ve endured interference.
“This is not about custody battles. This is about a child’s right to love both parents without manipulation,” Hudgins wrote in his open letter to lawmakers.
The Data Behind the Movement
- According to The Journal of Divorce & Remarriage (Mahrer et al., 2018), over 22 million U.S. parents report being alienated from their children.
- Clinical studies (Harman et al., 2022) link parental alienation to:
- Identity confusion
- Academic decline
- Long-term anxiety and depressive disorders
- Disrupted adult relationships
Oklahoma is not immune. Hudgins says he sees these consequences weekly in his private practice.
“This is not theoretical. These are real children, real courtrooms, and real trauma,” he stated.
Mental Health Meets the Law
What distinguishes Hudgins’ effort is the fusion of law and psychology. Most custody statutes deal in logistics—visitation, compliance, enforcement. Hudgins reframes the issue as emotional abuse and psychological violence, akin to gaslighting, coercive control, and identity theft.
His model—the Mosaic Family Systems Theory emphasizes the fracturing of a child’s identity when forced to reject one parent due to emotional manipulation by the other. He argues that parental alienation should be categorized alongside domestic violence and child abuse.
Call to Action: Oklahoma, Pay Attention
Hudgins has issued a call to every parent, grandparent, educator, and lawmaker:
Here’s what you can do:
- Contact Senator Weaver and Representative West – urge them to fast-track the bill for committee hearing.
- Visit www.drsteveh.com – download legislative drafts, submit testimony, join the movement.
- Share your story – lived experiences are being forwarded directly to legislative committees.
- Support judicial accountability – demand trauma-informed reform, not recycled bureaucracy.
“If we do not rise now, another child will fall,” Hudgins warned.
Conclusion: A State at the Crossroads
The failure of SB 970 was not just legislative—it was moral. The burden now falls on Oklahoma lawmakers to correct that failure by passing a bill that actually confronts the abuse so many families are experiencing.
Dr. Hudgins has redrawn the blueprint. The only question now is whether the state will act.
Because in Oklahoma’s custody courts, silence is not neutrality—it’s complicity.
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(Writing by Robbie Robertson; Editing by Robbie Robertson)
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