Can a step parent file a restraining order on behalf of a child?

  Per Ark. Code Ann. 9-15-201 of the Domestic Abuse Act, a petition for protective order can be filed by: A petition may be filed by: (1) Any adult family or household member on behalf of himself or herself; (2) Any adult family or household member on behalf of another family or household member who is a minor, including a married minor; (3) Any adult family or household member on behalf of another family or household member who has been adjudicated an incompetent; or (4) An employee or volunteer of a domestic-violence shelter or program on behalf of a minor, including a married minor. "Household members", as defined in Ark. Code Ann. 9-15-103 of the Domestic Abuse Act, includes: “Family or household members” means spouses, former spouses, parents and children, persons related by blood within the fourth degree of consanguinity, in-laws, any children residing in the household, persons who presently or in the past have resided or cohabited together, persons who have or have had a child in common, and persons who are presently or in the past have been in a dating relationship together." Step mom may qualify to fit in category 2 as a person who can apply for a protective order as "any adult family or household member on behalf of another family or household member who is a minor. " The more appropriate person to file would definetely be a parent on behalf of their own child, in my opinion, but she may be able to proceed as a household member filing on behalf of a household member as a minor.  This is not the anwer you are looking for but this is the most accurate reading of the law.