IN PRINT
DARCY OLSEN
Founder & CEO
“We have newborns sleeping in offices,” the social worker told me. “If you could open a crib, we’d be thankful.” I couldn’t shake the image of newborns struggling under the glare of fluorescent lights. So, instead of fostering a teen as I’d planned, I left the hospital cradling an abandoned infant, meth-exposed. In a few short years, I’d taken home ten.
READ BIO
DARCY OLSEN
Founder & CEO
“We have newborns sleeping in offices,” the social worker told me. “If you could open a crib, we’d be thankful.” I couldn’t shake the image of newborns struggling under the glare of fluorescent lights. So, instead of fostering a teen as I’d planned, I left the hospital cradling an abandoned infant, meth-exposed. In a few short years, I’d taken home ten.
READ BIO
ARIZONA TAX CREDIT
ARIZONA TAX CREDIT
ABOUT US
“Kids could have no better guardian angel.”
- National Review
Molly
Abandoned at birth, we fought for Molly. She now has a loving, adopted family.
*To protect our clients’ privacy, images are representative only.
WORKING TOGETHER. SAVING LIVES.
Since our launch in 2017, Gen Justice has worked with local leaders, national partners and the White House to drive the adoption of state and federal policies impacting hundreds of thousands of kids. These measures have expedited the search for relatives, shortened the time to adoption and improved legal representation for abandoned, abused and trafficked children.
HOW IT HAPPENS
True change is neither simple nor swift – that’s why we’re here.
Too many American children suffer brutality and death as a result of weak laws or poor compliance with good laws. We believe children should be safely and quickly reunified with family when possible, foster care should be temporary, and adoption, when necessary, should proceed without delay.
OUR MISSION
Gen Justice works to mend the child protection system and bring a permanent end to innocent children enduring violence.
OUR STORY
Founder Darcy Olsen has two decades of success in shaping laws including The Right To Try. But she considers the ten infants she fostered her most important work. After seeing the injustices facing abused kids, Olsen decided she needed to act. She founded Gen Justice in honor of these children including “Baby A” who lived just 56 days.
WHAT WE DO
THE MEANS TO A MUCH BETTER END.
Our work is broad and far-reaching, resulting in life-changing impact. We work on a micro, macro and super-macro level. These three threads, bound and woven together, are the lifeline that will pull this generation up and end the violence.
MACRO
Changing public laws and policies to protect abandoned and abused kids. We work in our home state of Arizona to implement nonpartisan reforms, then share our work nationwide, helping local communities tailor reform to their needs.
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MICRO
Helping individual children in their court cases day in and day out in our Children’s Law Clinic, providing emergency legal assistance and counsel to expedite their safety and passage to family.
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SUPER-MACRO
Enforcing constitutional rights. Abused kids face an uphill battle for safety because they have second-class rights. Abusers have a right to counsel and public hearings; children have neither. We believe children are entitled to equal protection. Our public interest legal work seeks to vindicate the constitutional interests of children to be free of severe abuse and, when abandoned to the state, their interests in timely adoption.
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OUR LEADERSHIP
DARCY OLSEN
Founder & CEO
“We have newborns sleeping in offices,” the social worker told me. “If you could open a crib, we’d be thankful.” I couldn’t shake the image of newborns struggling under the glare of fluorescent lights. So, instead of fostering a teen as I’d planned, I left the hospital cradling an abandoned infant, meth-exposed. In a few short years, I’d taken home ten.
TARA GLASS
Director of Technology
Founder of GM Technology, tech expert Tara has served Gen Justice pro bono since its founding. Growing up, Tara witnessed the destructive impact of drug abuse on children in her family. She’s at the ready 24/7 for the kids of Gen Justice.
TIM KELLER
Senior Vice President and Legal Director
"As a father, I would have given anything to protect our foster daughter from what she endured,” said Tim. Through Gen Justice's public interest legal work, Tim seeks to vindicate the constitutional interests of children to be free from severe abuse, and he fights for their right to be safe, secure, and promptly placed with permanent parents.
LAURA MAJOR
Manager of Donor Relations
Laura brings twenty years of management, organizational and charitable fundraising experience to Gen Justice. She’s a lifelong proponent of individual rights and believes children, like adults, are born with inalienable rights.
REBECCA SMITH MASTERSON
Chief Counsel
My foster son sifted through the possessions he had accumulated in his 13 years of state care. Next to the clothes that didn’t fit was a rainbow tower of backpacks. It took me a minute to understand. “Whenever you got moved to a new place, you got a new backpack?” “Yeah,” he shrugged, “Sometimes with a stuffed animal or school supplies.” I realized that at every stage of this child’s life, instead of meaningful help, instead of exiting foster care for the permanent family he needed, he got a backpack. I promised to change this.
BRITTANY REINER
Lead Attorney
“Just go and tell the Judge, ‘She’s MY little girl!’,” Brittany told her parents (then-foster-parents) to tell the Court when she was about five years old during her own time in Arizona’s foster care system.
ANN TREDWAY
Executive Director
Ann joined Gen Justice as a founding team member, offering her expertise in management, operations, and fundraising. Ann’s work honors the memory of her stillborn son, William. Ann believes all children should have the chance to grow up safe and loved.
board of directors
William Coats
The Leona Group, LLC
Alan P. Dye
Webster, Chamberlain & Bean
F. Phillips Giltner
Shamrock Foods
Renee V. Giltner
CPA
Sandy Leong
Sandy Leong Jewelry
Celia McClelland
Shamrock Foundation
Darcy Olsen
Gen Justice
Carrie Tynan
Adolph Coors Foundation
FINANCIALS
GuideStar has awarded Gen Justice with its Platinum Seal of Transparency every year since inception.