From Vanessa Ruiz
68 • Tucson, AZ • Retired Social Worker • Kinship Caregiver
“They say the system protects children. I’ve been in court four times just trying to keep my grandson safe.”
My daughter struggled with addiction. Her ex is unreliable, sometimes aggressive. When the custody battle got ugly, I stepped in—because no one else could.
I love my grandson like my own. But I didn’t plan to be printing court forms and managing subpoenas in retirement. I didn’t plan for the stress, the cost, or the silence from the agencies that were supposed to help.
I have arthritis. I live on Social Security. And I’m up at night researching legal terms I never thought I’d need to understand.
A younger parent in my support group told me about Splitifi. She said it helped her organize everything without needing constant help from her attorney. I didn’t think I was “techy” enough—but I tried.
Now, my grandson’s schedule is synced. I track every denied exchange, every emergency call, every school pickup that didn’t happen. The next time we went to court, I didn’t stumble through papers—I presented facts.
I may be older, but I’m not powerless. And Splitifi helped me prove that.
—Vanessa
