The Barron Foundation — Founded in Georgia
Dr. Kreslyn Barron Odum — physician, certified victims advocate, and founder of The Barron Foundation. Eight years and counting in a broken system turned into a national movement for change.
Dr. Kreslyn Barron Odum is a physician, women's rights advocate, and the founder and executive director of The Barron Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Georgia.
She is also a protective parent — and everything The Barron Foundation does is built from that truth.
She directs Family Court Awareness Month — the national initiative held every November to bring public attention to the epidemic of family court failures that leave children in danger. FCAM was co-founded by advocates Tina Swithin and Sandra Ross. Dr. Odum took the reins and now directs the initiative nationally.
Dr. Odum has testified, traveled, organized, and built coalitions across the country — from the Georgia State Capitol to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial — to demand that the family court system be held accountable to the children it is supposed to protect.
She carries this fight in her bones. Not just as a director, not just as a physician — but as a mother who knows exactly what is at stake when the system fails a child.
Words That Carry Us
“Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.”
— Brené Brown
“Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”
— Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
As seen in documentary screened at the National Press Club, Washington D.C.
The Founder
Founded by a mother who became a nationally-trained advocate — and built by the women and men who refuse to let another child be silenced.
Wherever Dr. Odum goes — the US Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial, the beaches of California — she carries Clara.
Clara is a baby doll. She travels because the children Dr. Odum is fighting for cannot — every child failed by a system that was supposed to protect them.
The ASL “I love you” sign that appears in photo after photo is not a gesture for the camera. It is the one thing a parent can give a child when words are not allowed.
Clara has been to Washington. She has stood at the feet of Lincoln. She has looked up at the dome of the Capitol. She will keep going.
Dr. Odum does not wait for change to come. She carries this mission into every room, every city, every hall of power that will open its doors — and many that haven't yet.
At the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C. — bringing the fight to the feet of Lincoln.
With the Ruth Bader Ginsburg portrait at Hotel Zena, Washington, D.C. — she fought for the things she cared about, in a way that led others to join her.
This is why she keeps going.
The ASL “I love you” sign is not just a courtroom gesture. It travels everywhere parents are shunned — school pickup lines, FaceTime calls cut short, goodbye waves through car windows, visits that end too soon.
It is the one thing a parent can give their child when every other form of communication has been taken from them.
It is the symbol of The Barron Foundation. It is the sign of every protective parent who has not stopped fighting.
Make the sign. Share it. Let someone who needs it know they are not alone.
58,000+ children every year. Half a million at any moment.
According to the Leadership Council on Child Abuse and Interpersonal Violence — more than twice the yearly rate of new childhood cancer cases. This is the crisis Dr. Odum has spent eight years and counting fighting to end.
Written for mothers navigating family court — and open to everyone who stands with them.
For the mind, body, and soul of every woman fighting for her child.
Invited participant in Stage 2 of the ECCBS — the first academic scale developed to measure coercive control, child and mother sabotage, and post-separation abuse in family court contexts. University of Manchester, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health. Recruited at the request of leaders in the field.
Dr. Odum brings a clinician’s discipline and evidence-based lens to family court reform — demanding the same standard of proof the medical field requires.
Featured in a documentary screened at the National Press Club in Washington D.C., bringing the family court crisis to a national audience. See press →
A trusted source for CNN investigative reporters and numerous journalists covering family court reform. Featured on podcasts and in articles bringing the family court crisis to national attention.
In 2025, Dr. Odum engaged with Senator Jon Ossoff’s U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law (bipartisan investigation into Georgia DFCS), Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, U.S. Representative Buddy Carter, Georgia State Representative Steven Meeks, the Georgia DV Coalition at the Capitol, Georgia Protective Parents, and legislators from Arizona and Oregon.
From Washington, D.C., to California to Honolulu, Dr. Odum has carried the foundation’s mission coast to coast. In 2025 she brought protective-parent advocacy to Capitol Hill; in 2026 she stood with the national network of protective parents in California; and in June 2026 she met in Honolulu with the Hawai‘i State Commission on the Status of Women — anchored in Act 27, the first state statute to codify coercive control — and with the Domestic Violence Action Center (DVAC), whose PIKO program serves protective parents and child witnesses through family court.
In June 2026, Dr. Odum took part in the ABA Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence’s program on Challenging Parental Alienation: New Directions for Professionals and Parents (Jean Mercer & Margaret Drew) — scholarship arguing that “parental alienation” principles should be avoided by family courts. It reinforces the foundation’s evidence-based position that abuse, not “alienation,” belongs at the center of custody decisions.
Advocated at the Georgia State Capitol alongside YATP in the 2025 session. Ridge’s Law (SB 259) passed — parents now have the right to a second medical opinion in child abuse determinations. Ethan’s Law (HB 253), led by Georgia Protective Parents, did not reach a final Senate vote. The fight continues.
Dr. Odum has built working relationships with local law enforcement agencies, mayors, and DFCS throughout Georgia — ensuring protective parents have advocates in community leadership and within the system itself.
Founded The Barron Foundation (EIN: 41-2418788) in Georgia after years navigating a broken family court system — turning lived experience into infrastructure for protective parents nationwide.
Certified by the University of Georgia Legal Studies Department — bringing both clinical training and formal advocacy credentials to every family she serves.
Trained as a Court Appointed Special Advocate — a volunteer role that puts children's best interests at the center of every court decision.
Directs FCAM — the national initiative held every November, co-founded by Tina Swithin and Sandra Ross — now recognized in 267 verified jurisdictions across 26 states.
Completed nonprofit education and entrepreneurship courses through the Lucas Center for Entrepreneurship at College of Coastal Georgia — building the foundation’s infrastructure with the same rigor she brings to advocacy.
Over 700 hours across more than 100 courses — coercive control, narcissistic abuse, trauma, forensic evaluation, high conflict communication, child safety, CASA advocacy, and family court reform. Trained with experts from Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, and throughout the United States.
Beyond training, she collaborates as a peer with protective parents and family court reform leaders across four countries. In the United States she has traveled to work alongside Tina Swithin’s national network in California (March 2026) and advocates in New York (April 2026); internationally she has worked with reform leaders in Australia and Canada (first half 2025) and met with researchers, advocacy organizations, and policy staff in England (August 2026). The crisis is global. So is the coalition fighting it.
Directs the verification of Family Court Awareness Month’s proclamation record — a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction audit conducted with state organizations including Tennessee Safe Parents and Protective Parents Michigan. The audit replaced an inherited, unsourced national estimate with 267 documented proclamations across 26 states, nineteen of them at the state level, each tied to a primary record. Where a record could not be verified, it was removed. Advocacy is only as durable as the numbers behind it.
96-hour certification through the High Conflict Divorce Coach Certification Program, founded by Tina Swithin of One Mom’s Battle. The program trains clinicians, coaches, and advocates to support protective parents navigating narcissistic and high-conflict co-parenting through documentation, court preparation, communication strategy, and family court advocacy. Filling the critical gap between legal and therapeutic support.
Private training with a retired Arizona Superior Court family court judge who served 19 years on the bench, retiring January 1, 2025. Direct judicial perspective on how courts evaluate evidence, assess credibility, and make custody determinations.
Certified through Evergreen Certifications — 54 hours of coursework through PESI covering narcissistic and psychopathic abuse, intensive trauma treatment, and DSM-5 differential diagnosis. Completed as an advocate to better recognize and speak to narcissistic abuse patterns in family court.
Completed a two-day intensive with Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps the Score, on trauma healing through the senses — alongside DSM-5 differential diagnosis for traumatized clients, ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) certification, and trauma-informed communication. What a court calls a difficult child is often a child whose nervous system is telling the truth.
Formal evaluator coursework through three bodies: the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (24-hour Fundamentals of Conducting Parenting Plan Evaluations, 2026), the American Academy of Forensic Psychology (Introduction to Child Custody and Parenting Evaluations), and seven courses through the National Board of Forensic Evaluators — including its Child Custody Evaluation Workshop, records review standards, forensic evaluation of parental reunification, and expert witness training. AFCC writes the model standards that custody evaluators are measured against. Custody evaluations often decide a case before it reaches the courtroom; knowing how they are built is what makes it possible to recognize when one has been built badly.
Eighteen courses through the High Conflict Institute, founded by Bill Eddy, LCSW, Esq. — including the full New Ways for Families® co-parenting curriculum, Parent-Child New Ways for Families®, and Conflict Influencer certification. Coursework included one-on-one sessions with the institute’s founder and senior faculty, and ongoing coaching with a practitioner in Victoria, Australia. Also completed Families in Transition through the National Center for State Courts and Arizona State University.
Twelve courses in coercive control and post-separation abuse, including the 40-hour Protective Parenting Program and the Coercive Control Trauma-Informed Coach, Attorney & Ally Certification, plus advanced coursework with leading researchers in the field. Coercive control is the pattern family courts are least equipped to recognize — and the one that most reliably predicts what happens to a child after the gavel falls.
Built partnerships with One Mom's Battle, Georgia Protective Parents, Tennessee Safe Parents, Protective Parents Michigan, Family Court Ordered Trauma, and protective-parent advocates across the country who are fighting to protect children in family courts.
A lifelong advocate for equality and child protection. Connected with the National Family Violence Law Center at George Washington University Law School, and carrying the mission into state capitols and communities across America for eight years and counting.
At the Tennessee Woman Suffrage Monument, Centennial Park, Nashville — standing in the lineage of women who changed history by refusing to accept less.
The monument stands because of Paula F. Casey, who led the six-year effort to build it.
“I Can. I Will. Watch Me.” — The only response to a system that said she couldn’t.
Gate B16 — Santa Barbara, CA. Clara travels every mile of this fight. The mission doesn’t stop.
Every person in hot pink is another protective parent seen. Another voice raised. Another community that decided silence was not an option.
The Barron Foundation runs on the belief that no protective parent should face this fight alone. Your support makes the difference.
🤟 Give a Child a Voice 🩷 Learn About FCAM 📢 Press & Media“Once your eyes have been opened to the true atrocities flooding our courts, you can never unsee. You can’t just walk away. It changes who you are. Ignorance may be bliss but education on the true evil happening to our children and our families will transform you into a fighter. You may take a mental health break, but you will forever come back to try to save another.”
— Dr. Kreslyn Barron Odum, Founder, The Barron Foundation
Spoken before anyone was listening.
“I stand with the blood of generations of Barron women running through me. Their strength. Their fire. Their refusal to bend. I was made for such a time as this — and so was this foundation.”
— Dr. Kreslyn Barron Odum, Founder, The Barron Foundation
Barron is the founder’s middle name. Her mother’s maiden name. A name carried across generations of women who did not bend — and a foundation named to carry that strength forward.
