● Leaders of the #ReimagineChildSafety campaign, working with Black Lives Matter – Los Angeles on a social media campaign to explain to Los Angeles – and the rest of America – how “child welfare” really works, discussed the campaign on KPFK Radio’s Move The Crowd. (Scroll down to the bottom of the page to find the link.) You can follow the campaign at @DontTakeOurKids And here’s another of the excellent videos that are part of the campaign.
● Remember the racist myth about how COVID-19 supposedly was going to lead to a “pandemic of child abuse”? Not only did that not happen, it led one institution to realize kids were better off if it closed it’s entire “residential treatment” program. I have a blog post about it.
● This
Texas Observer story begins with two cases in the same court on the same
day. Almost identical circumstances. But in one case Texas CPS says: Let the family
stay together; in the other they recommend foster care. You’ll never guess the difference! – OK, yes,
you will. But you may still be surprised
to find that the problem in Texas may be worst in the liberal bastion of
metropolitan Austin.
● In The Imprint, Vivek Sankaran reflects on the key turning point in the life of Ma’Khia Bryant – the crucial child welfare system blunder that ultimately contributed to her death outside her foster home.
● The Imprint also reports on the departure of one of the most important child welfare reformers in the
federal government.
And finally,
● The next truly great book about the “child welfare” system will be published on October 4. Here’s a preview in the form of a tweet thread from the author. Here’s where you can pre-order. And here’s where you can get ready by reading (or re-reading) the masterpiece from 20 years ago that set the standard for everything that would follow, and sets the stage for this new story.
