Confronting the Racist Legacy of the American Child Welfare System

Episode Summary:

It was when Alan arrived at a home with the cops to remove a child and heard his mother say “Charles, run, they're coming to take you and they're going to sell you to the white people” that he realized how the trauma of slavery cannot be disentangled from the trauma of family separation. It was in this moment that he realized the harm he’s done to many families and decided to take a different path. Today, Alan Dettlaff is an abolitionist and co-founder of the upEND Movement. In this episode we explore the racist legacy of the child welfare system through discussing Alan’s book Confronting the Racist Legacy of the American Child Welfare System: The Case for Abolition.

In this episode, we cover:

(00:23) Who is Alan Dettlaff? 

(01:35) Removing children from their families OR He was complicit

(04:16) Why reforms don’t work (and what does)

(08:32) Why the family policing system is racist

(14:31) What’s wrong with mandatory reporting laws?

(20:23) Trump’s Zero Tolerance Policy 

(23:58) People wanted to end family separations previously 

(25:25) Everyday acts of abolition (that you can do)

(31:55) Social workers and the abolitionist movement 

(35:06) “Run, they’re going to sell you to white people” OR Trauma of slavery vs. trauma of family separations  

(38:19) Learning more from Alan Dettlaff

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Resources: 

• Alan Dettlaff’s book: Confronting the Racist Legacy of the American Child Welfare System: The Case for Abolition
• Upend Movement: Donate | Podcast 
• Torn Apart by Dorothy Roberts 
• Abolitionist Perspectives In Social Work 

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Editing by Samuel Oyedele (Editor)

Special thanks to Samuel Oyedele for editing our podcast, support his work on Instagram or email him at [email protected]