Board Stories: Protecting the Human-Animal Bond

By Maggie Roberts, Board Director –

When I was nine, I went through a Titanic phase. This storied nautical tragedy is particularly accessible to children – simple, but rich in perspectives to try on, legends you can choose to perpetuate or disbelieve.

One such legend was that of a passenger who opted to perish in the glacial North Atlantic with her Great Dane rather than get on a lifeboat without the dog. I spent a lot of time as a kid trying to imagine what making that choice was like for her.

RedRover Board Director Maggie Roberts' Chihuahua, Rhys

Maggie’s Chihuahua, Rhys

It was this maybe-mythical woman of whom I thought, night after night, when I worked on a domestic violence helpline after college. Again and again, callers told me they would not be separated from their pets. They would not leave their animals at the mercy of abusers to be neglected, hurt, or killed. These animals had provided them companionship during the most isolated periods of their lives, in some cases had physically protected them. No, they would not go anywhere if the pets they loved couldn’t go, too.

Yet, despite being within the borders of a developed nation and not on a sinking ship in the middle of the ocean, many callers facing domestic violence with their pets still had almost as few options as that woman and her Great Dane. Death was not a certainty if they didn’t get on the lifeboat, but it was a real possibility in their circumstances. And continued victimization was a certainty.

I learned about RedRover while searching for better options for these callers. There’s no way for me to know exactly how many of the callers I helped went on to apply for RedRover Relief Safe Escape grants. However, having served on RedRover’s Board for almost two years, I can say with certainty that anyone who did reach out to RedRover encountered a helpful, compassionate voice on the other end of the line. It is such a privilege to be involved with such an effective organization staffed by such competent, kind people.

RedRover Board Director Maggie Roberts' cat, Elspeth

Elspeth, Maggie’s cat

I am happy to say that my day job, and not just my Board service, involves protecting the human-animal bond. I am an attorney with the American Bar Association (ABA) Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence, where I work on improving access to quality legal services for survivors of gender-based violence across the country. It’s important for lawyers who serve domestic violence survivors to ask their clients about pets early on in representing them, listen when their clients voice concerns about pets, understand how abusers may leverage pets as a means of coercive control, and know what legal options are available to help clients protect themselves and their pets. Over the past year or so, I have worked on getting that information to lawyers serving survivors; you can read an article of which I am particularly proud here: Five Ways Attorneys Can Support Domestic Violence Survivors with Pets.

In 2025, the ABA adopted a policy, Resolution 25M504, that calls for all federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal governments to enact legislation and support judicial processes that protect people by protecting their pets in family law and civil restraining order proceedings, improve access to legal services, and promote transitional shelter and housing options. I have been helping with the implementation of this policy, too.

I want nothing more than to live in a world without violence. It seems unlikely that this wish will ever come true. In the meantime, however, we can work to make sure that no one ever has to choose between keeping a beloved pet and taking a step towards safety. RedRover is doing that work.