I want to say something that some may have a hard time hearing. ACA has, in my opinion, been abused by the confusion that skewed WSO's framing of our program. I see and hear people with a lot of time and good will trying to come to grips with fashioning core documents and versions of the Steps, based on what is presented as "the program" via our current materials; trying to fix what doesn't quite work but has offered an advancement over the earlier programs without being critical.
I and others of ACA’s early members revised what Bill W. had begun in AA's Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions approach to understanding the Steps. We tried to get AA/Al-Anon to incorporate, as reparenting, what Bill termed "reconciling the instincts out of balance", which we all have as core elements of being human. What was seen as needing redefinition is the assumption that "self-will run riot" is who we really are and to replace that idea with the better truth that the blameless, lost, sad, and abandoned inner child is who we are, and then work all the Steps from that stance.
Tony A.'s version of the steps starts with the same AA program material:; Bill's move toward becoming emotionally sober as a goal for living. Those early ACA members didn’t quit AA or Al-Anon but integrated their understanding of these original programs' principles into their ACA "further action." Tony A. worked with Ram Dass (Richard Alpert) in a transcendental meditation approach to a loving Higher Power. I'm a math/Taoist who's become reconciled to a liberal form of Christianity (with a loving, empowering version of Spirit). All of us who carry over our core of recovery in AA/Al-Anon reframe our understanding of "Power" to be loving, forgiving, and empowering; not a brutal, punishing judge looking for what we want to hide. That's the standpoint that shifts but stays present in ACA if it is a Twelve Step program.
WSO's original steering committee defined ACA as a fellowship of those who make use of some or all of the Steps, which is a major twist, in my opinion. This erases the Steps as the core document of the recovery program. Without the Steps there is no central core. You can reparent the inner child or set boundaries or heal and soothe in ACA without ever referencing a Step in a personal program. That's terribly confusing! "What Step am I on?" as a tool for self-management and as a basis for sponsorship do not necessarily apply, but they can, if you want. There is no surrender involved in current ACA WSO and most have adjusted to this being all to expect out of ACA, which is tragic.
Kathleen S