The legal structure that undergirds child welfare creates challenges to the safety and well-being of survivors of domestic violence 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 meaningful 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. Raising the bar by strengthening legal protections for survivors who are at risk of or involved in child welfare systems is a critical strategy in any community seeking to rethink or redesign how we create safety.
Learning Objectives:
- Describe a continuum of needed legal protections and social supports for survivors of domestic violence and their children
- Ensure high quality, accessible legal advocacy for keeping families out of child welfare and children out of foster care
- Strengthen representation for survivors in foster care proceedings through utilization of the four-point rubric of Nicholson v Scoppetta
Facilitator:
Shellie Taggart – Project Director, Children & Youth Program, Futures Without Violence
Panelists:
Sharwline Nicholson – Mother, Survivor and Lead Plaintiff on Nicholson v. Scoppetta
Melody Webb, Esq. – Executive Director, Mother’s Outreach Network (D.C.)