The legal structure that undergirds child welfare creates challenges to the safety and well-being of survivors of domestic violence (DV) and their children. Mandatory reporting creates a vast surveillance system of low-income children and families, who are disproportionately Black and Indigenous due to structural inequities and biases across intersecting systems. Substantiation of a survivor “failing to protect” children from harm caused by their abusive partner lands them on a central registry which can result in the loss of a job, prohibit involvement in children’s school activities, and impact future employment prospects. Lack of accountability and pathways to change for abusive partners leaves survivors with fewer resources and increased burdens. Foster care placements due to DV separate a child from the one adult who contributes most to their healing. These are not isolated occurrences, but daily realities for survivors of DV and their children. So how can child- and family-serving agencies, advocates, and communities help ensure access to the high-quality legal advocacy needed to keep families together?
In this critical conversation, survivors and movement lawyers will respond to this challenge and invite participants to rethink and redesign ways to create safety for survivors who are at risk or involved in child welfare systems.
Join the Bridges to Better team to expand your knowledge on the ways legal protections and social supports can create meaningful pathways to keep families out of child welfare and children out of foster care.
