Keeping your kids safe from domestic violence
Domestic violence is considered harmful to children and you can be charged with neglect if there is domestic violence in your home. However, domestic violence cases also are complex. We spoke with Lauren Shapiro, founder anddirector of the Brooklyn Family Defense Project, and Derek Silvers, director ofFriends to Fathers, about parents’ legal rights and obligations if there is violence in their homes
Q: What do parents need to … Read More
It is as if my past has caught up with me: Deserted streets. Food lines. Curfews. Yes, I feel like my past has finally reared its ugly head on American soil.
I have been struggling daily since I returned from the war in Iraq 17 years ago. Secretly, I call these experiences “Living in a Triggering Town.” It’s the constant pressure of surviving.
That’s New York City today. Not being able to travel on the buses, or trains, or by cab. Normally. Not able to leave the house unless deemed mission essential by the Governor. Transit workers, grocery store workers, hospital personnel. They keep us alive, but they cannot keep us sane.
This spring, NYC’s Administration for Children’s Services will open Family Enrichment Centers (FECs) in three neighborhoods with high child welfare involvement—Highbridge and Hunt’s Point in the Bronx and East New York, Brooklyn—run by Good Shepherd Services, Graham Windham, and the Bridgebuilders Community Partnership. Each site will have a director, two parent advocates, and a community liaison.
Jacqueline Martin, Deputy Commissioner for the Division of Preventive Services, and Kailey Burger, Assistant Commissioner for Community Based Strategies in the … Read More
When child welfare systems are forced to cut their budgets, often it’s preventive services that are hardest hit. The belief is that familysupports are nice if the government can afford them, but it’s investigations that prevent child deaths. But a 2012 study of 20 years of child deaths in Sacramento, Calif., found that cutting preventive services put children at risk—and wasted money.
Sheila Boxley of the Child Abuse Prevention Center, who headed the team that did … Read More
Kathleen Creamer, a parent attorney at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, explains how parents can strengthen their case by presenting the people in their lives in family court, as well as what parents can do if they don’t have anyone to bring to court.
Q: What role should friends, family and others play in court?
A: When you walk into court, it’s incredibly important to present as a parent who is willing and able to ask for … Read More
