Involvement in the foster care system is not random. Racism and social inequities are both reflected in and actively shape our foster care system that’s largely comprised of Black and Brown youth experiencing poverty. Foster care abolitionist Dorothy Roberts talks about the “family policing system” that is tied to historically oppressive and harmful practices, including slavery and the carceral system, and inflicts trauma on communities of color. Tamara Hunter, a foster care systems leader for Los Angeles County, champions a shift from mandated reporting to mandated supporting, and the need for a “third option” beyond either reporting or not reporting. What is the “foster care-to-prison pipeline,” and how are Black children being funneled into it? How can we build pathways to support mandated reporters, like teachers and health care professionals, to connect families with resources?

Guest 1: Dorothy Roberts, Professor of Law and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, Director of the Penn Program on Race, Science, and Society, author of Torn Apart: How the Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families–and How Abolition Can Build a Safer World

Guest 2: Tamara Hunter, Interim Executive Director, Los Angeles County Prevention and Promotion Systems Governing Committee

Interviewer: Tyrone C. Howard, Pritzker Family Professor of Education to Strengthen Children & Families, School of Education & Information Studies; Director, Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children and Families; Faculty Co-Director, Center for the Transformation of Schools, UCLA

Show Notes:

• Foster Care to Prison Pipeline
• Torn Apart and Shattered Bonds by Dorothy Roberts
• “53% of black children will undergo a child welfare investigation before they reach age 18.” Kim, H., Wildeman, C., Jonson-Reid, M., & Drake B., 2017. Lifetime prevalence of investigating child maltreatment among US children. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5227926/
• Prevention and Promotion Systems Governing Committee (PPSGC) in LA County
• Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA)
• “90% of reports made by school personnel were unsubstantiated when it came to any cases of neglect or abuse.” Fong, K., 2020. Getting eyes in the home: Child protective services investigations and state surveillance of family life. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0003122420938460?journalCode=asra
• upEND Movement

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