The Role of Legal Advocacy in Family Reunification w/ Keshia Adeniyi

Episode Summary: 

The child welfare system is waging war on Black families, and Keshia Adeniyi-Dorsey is on the front lines. In this episode, she shares her journey from foster child to family defender, exposing the racist roots of CPS and the urgent need for change. Keisha breaks down her tactics for protecting families during CPS investigations, from refusing home entry to shutting down fishing expeditions. Her success rates are fantastic: 95.8% of parental rights protected and 93.7% of families reunified. "We already know, and we've already done in the past, like, right? Like, took care of ourselves, we took care of everybody else's kids too, right? We don't need the system to do it." 

In this episode, we cover:

(00:23) Meet Keshia Adeniyi-Dorsey

(01:37) Adoptions and Safe Families Act

(06:08) Reality of CPS investigations

(12:17) Protecting families during CPS investigations

(17:11) Reuniting 93.7% of families 

(23:46) Challenges of advocating for families OR Dealing with incompetence

(28:56) We don’t need police for that OR The color of the system OR  Black families don’t need CPS OR We don’t need help OR Not everyone needs help

(35:33) Affording counsel 

(43:39) Truth to power

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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].