Confronting the Racist Legacy of the American Child Welfare System

Abstract

Abstract Confronting the Racist Legacy of the American Child Welfare System presents a call to abolish the American child welfare system due to the harm and destruction it causes Black families. The book traces the origins of the modern child welfare system, which emerged just following the abolition of slavery, to demonstrate that the harm and oppression that result from child welfare intervention are not the result of “unintended consequences” but rather are the clear intents of the system and the foreseeable results of policies put in place over decades. By tracing the history of family separations in the United States since the era of slavery, Confronting the Racist Legacy of the American Child Welfare System demonstrates that the intended outcomes of those separations—the subjugation of Black Americans and the maintenance of White supremacy—are the same intended outcomes of family separations today. What distinguishes contemporary family separations from those that occurred during slavery is that today’s separations occur under a façade of benevolence, a myth perpetuated over decades that family separations are necessary to “save” the most vulnerable children. Yet what if we could see past the mirage of benevolence and recognize family separations for what they truly are—state-directed, state-sponsored terror? The book presents evidence of the vast harms that result from family separations to make a case that the child welfare system is beyond reform. Rather, the only solution to ending these harms is complete abolition of this system and a fundamental reimagining of the way society cares for children, families, and communities.

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