Our Children Have Rights’ Post

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Over the last year, We've partnered with the Redlich Horwitz Foundation to develop narrative strategies to transform how communities and the public understand family policing systems. This past weekend, Piper facilitated training on advocacy storytelling with lived experience experts from across New York State working to build a movement to end family criminalization and separation led by parents, guardians, and foster care alumni. These lived-experienced experts are challenging popular narratives about the child welfare systems and families who are targeted by family policing authorities, like the fact that the majority of children are removed from their homes because of conditions that stem from poverty NOT abuse. More than half of Black children will have to endure the trauma of an investigation by a child welfare agency during their childhood. Even Pres. Biden in 2021 acknowledged that too often children are removed from loving, supportive homes because "poverty is too often conflated with neglect." That is why we need more determined, passionate advocates who know firsthand the damaging impact of family policing. We've facilitated our "Advocacy Storytelling" training with advocates, non-profit communications teams, community organizers, social service agencies, school administrators, and a national coalition fighting for affordable childcare. Contact us to bring our training to your organization or network. #storytelling #advocacy #socialchange #narrativechange #childwelfare #familypolicing #familyjustice #CreateForward

The Florida Guardian ad Litem Office received a request from the Department to consent to a four-year-old child’s psychotropic medication. The Office is appointed to the child for representation. Without being asked, Guardian ad Litem staff member Vanessa Rubio investigated the medication, learned what it is for and how it is administered, standard dosages, and anything else she could learn to advocate for this young child. Vanessa began asking the questions you would expect any parent to ask, including how the medication may negatively impact the child. Vanessa learned that the medication prescribed to the young child was prescribed at a dosage level for an adult. She contacted the provider inquiring and was told they could not talk to her. That did not stop Vanessa; she addressed that roadblock and, later that day, spoke to the medical staff and left her questions for the doctor, who later got back to her and confirmed the issue was relevant and would now cut the dosage in half. Vanessa demonstrated persistence and tenacity to find the person in charge and address her concerns for this four-year-old child in foster care. She educated herself and was armed with as much information as possible to ensure things were done correctly. Many of the children our Office is appointed to represent have nobody looking out for them. Situations like these show the importance of the Florida Guardian ad Litem Office and the benefits of having an advocate like Vanessa in their corner. Thank you, Vanessa for what you have done in the past, this week, and will do in the future. You are making a difference every day in the lives of Florida’s most vulnerable children. The Florida Guardian ad Litem Office represents abused, neglected, and abandoned children in court and the community. Every child appointed to our Office is assigned a Guardian ad Litem Attorney, child welfare professional and hopefully a community volunteer if one is available. To volunteer, donate, or get involved, visit www.guardianadlitem.org. #florida #guardianadlitem #mentor #volunteer #makeadifference #bethedifference #together #childwelfare #foster #fosterchild #fostercare #childrepresentation #dependency #child #children #youth #advocate #advocacy #childadvocacy

THANK YOU JOOYEUN CHANG, DIRECTOR OF CHILD WELL-BEING @ THE DORIS DUKE FOUNDATION! ❤️ Last week JooYeun Chang testified to the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance to provide comments on the critical role of the Family First Prevention Services Act in child welfare. https://lnkd.in/ebYyS7-J The Doris Duke Foundation is investing in Opt-in for Families, a three-year, $33 million initiative, seeks to demonstrate that actively connecting families at the earliest signal of need, to direct support for basic needs & coordinated support services using highly trusted community partners is a cost-effective, scalable way to prevent abuse & neglect AND keep families together. Opt-In is an alternative system response that can meet the comprehensive needs of families at risk must be able to attend to not only a family’s service needs through effective engagement strategies & care coordination but must also address the time-sensitive material needs that contribute to maltreatment & foster care placement risk. Providing a framework for the use of material through Family First can help ensure that poverty is not the primary reason a child is entering foster care. #reenvisioningfostercare

THANK YOU JOOYEUN CHANG, DIRECTOR OF CHILD WELL-BEING @ THE DORIS DUKE FOUNDATION! ❤️ Last week JooYeun Chang testified to the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance to provide comments on the critical role of the Family First Prevention Services Act in child welfare. https://lnkd.in/ebYyS7-J The Doris Duke Foundation is investing in Opt-in for Families, a three-year, $33 million initiative, seeks to demonstrate that actively connecting families at the earliest signal of need, to direct support for basic needs & coordinated support services using highly trusted community partners is a cost-effective, scalable way to prevent abuse & neglect AND keep families together. Opt-In is an alternative system response that can meet the comprehensive needs of families at risk must be able to attend to not only a family’s service needs through effective engagement strategies & care coordination but must also address the time-sensitive material needs that contribute to maltreatment & foster care placement risk. Providing a framework for the use of material through Family First can help ensure that poverty is not the primary reason a child is entering foster care. #reenvisioningfostercare

3 HOURS LEFT! Get your gift matched $1 for $1 on Giving Tuesday 👉 https://buff.ly/3VhUEAw Every two minutes, a child is removed from their home and placed in foster care. This can be a traumatic experience. But YOU can help more youth have the life-changing support of a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteer by doubling your impact today. Your gift to Voices for Children will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $25,000! Please consider making a matched gift before going to bed and help us cross the finish line before midnight🌛Any amount will support the advocacy of our CASA volunteers so children who have experienced abuse or neglect can be safe, find a permanent home, and have the opportunity to thrive. Children with a CASA volunteer: 1️⃣ Are more likely to find a safe, permanent home and receive timely services for their individualized needs during their time in the child welfare system. 2️⃣ Are half as likely to re-enter the foster care system. 3️⃣ Are more likely to pass all school courses and succeed academically. 4️⃣ Report high levels of hope and overall well-being. It only takes one caring volunteer to change the trajectory of a child's life.

Every child deserves a champion— This is the ideal we strive for, especially during Child Abuse Prevention Month. When we see chilling news stories of parents who abused their children, our instinctive reaction is to protect children at all costs. This natural desire to shield vulnerable children is admirable, but it also reveals a painful irony: while we aspire to be that champion, our interventions often paradoxically cause harm. Through my work with families who have been impacted by the child welfare system, a consistent pattern emerges: despite our best intentions, we often miss the mark. Consider the story of a father we work with who, as a child, suffered severe abuse at the hands of his mother. His desperate cries for help only led to harsher punishments. When CPS intervened, they were deceived by his mother's superficial display of competence and checking of the boxes. The system that should have protected him instead sent him right back into harm's way, even when he asked not to be returned. This is not an isolated incident but a telling example of a broader systemic failure: our inability to recognize and safeguard children from harm. Meanwhile, families never accused of abuse face invasive CPS investigations, which often feel more like interrogations than support, leading to unnecessary stress and family disruptions. And, in our zeal to protect children from the potential 'sociopaths' portrayed in the media, our what-if scenarios lead to the unnecessary separation of children from their parents who have never abused or neglected them. In these cases, the system itself manages to inflict the harm it was designed to prevent, subjecting children to the trauma of separation and the instability of foster care. Despite significant financial investment, our child protection system often exacerbates the vulnerabilities of our most vulnerable families, often failing to provide adequate care or effect positive change in the lives of children and families. Is there a better way to support and protect children and families? We need a fundamental shift towards a model that values relationship-building and trust over procedural compliance. People do not thrive when they are cases to be managed; they open up and change within environments where they feel safe and supported. Such an approach would emphasize genuine connections and relationships, enabling families to thrive within a supportive community environment. By reimagining our approach to prioritize building trust rather than policing families who are living in poverty, we can help ensure that every child has a lifelong champion within their OWN family and community and are loved and valued, and of course, safe. #childwelfare #childabusepreventionmonth #familywellbeing

When children cannot live with their parents, they do best with kin. • Kinship families deserve the same support as foster families. • Supported kinship is the bridge to equity, particularly for African American, American Indian, Alaska Native, and other communities of color. • Kinship families caring for children outside the child welfare system should have access to targeted supports. • Children and youth must remain connected to their families and communities. • Every child deserves to grow up with the people who know and love them and who are supported in doing so. • Efforts to help children remain with parents should include giving them supports, services, and resources needed to provide for the child. Families need support and resources to stay together. • No one should be discriminated against because of their identity. • Lived experience should not just inform policy change but lead it. • Government systems must be held accountable to prioritize and support kinship families.Kinship Unity Action Agenda https://lnkd.in/gu2Fw5d8

Important white paper making the connection between gun violence and child maltreatment. Experiences of physical abuse and exposure to intimate partner violence can increase risk for perpetration of gun violence. When incidents occur, too often resources go into looking for motive and making an arrest. This is not a public health approach, nor is it effective. We need to invest in ensuring violence free environments for all children, online and offline. #VoteKids

The Child Safe Standards are a set of principles designed to ensure the safety and well-being of children and young people in various settings. These standards aim to create environments where children are protected from harm and abuse. ✨Key Features of a Child Safe Environment✨ Best interests of children and their protection from harm is paramount 👧🧒 Reporting of abuse is required and never prevented. 🚨 Children's rights are respected. 🌟 Concerns and complaints raised by children are acted on. 📝 Leaders, staff and volunteers all demonstrate a child safe culture through their behaviours. 👩👦👦👨👦👦 #ChildSafeCulture #Leadership #Volunteers #Childprotection #Mandatoryreporters #earlychildhood #Zstaffing #earlychildhoodeducation