Someone to Turn To
Many struggling parents feel very alone, and isolation can put parents and children in jeopardy.The shame of a child welfare case can shatter relationships even further.
In this issue, parents describe how people they trusted inside and outside the system helped them stabilize their families—and why trust and peer support are critical components of any system that truly supports children’s well-being.
Read Related Articles
Taking Narcan Training is Taking Care of Community
I found out about the Narcan training when I was a part of a board in my community. Someone came to a meeting and asked us if we wanted to learn how to use Narcan. I said, “Yes.” I... Read More‘When You Have Lived Experience, You Come with a Different Angle’
Rise interviewed Marilyn Reyes, co-director of the Peer Network of New York, about harm reduction peer support as part of our process for developing the report, Someone to Turn To: A Vision for Creating Networks of Parent Peer Care.... Read More‘Our First Priority Is Making Sure People Are OK’
Fear of the family policing system can prevent families from accessing needed resources and support. Through community-led mutual aid, community members support each other, often responding more quickly than... Read More
Someone To Turn To: A Vision for Creating Networks of Parent Peer Care
This Insights paper presents Rise’s vision for a peer network of collective care by and for parents. This fall, Rise created a parent Peer Vision Team to explore building a peer care model that can strengthen families while reducing... Read MoreAlone in the System – Would my son have come home sooner if someone had taken the time to know me?
I was 19 when I was arrested for hitting my 2-year-old son with a belt.
What I did wasn’t right and it wasn’t how I usually treated my son. Usually I loved him to death and spoiled him rotten.... 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... Read More
Home Safe Home – I’m looking for supportive housing for my son and me
Before my son came home from foster care, I lived in supportive housing for almost a year. My program helped me with practical things, like learning the NYC buses and trains. But the main thing they helped me... Read More
Safe and Loved – I began to heal when I stopped carrying the burden of sexual abuse in silence
I used to walk down the street looking at people. People looked back at me. I wanted to talk to someone, but my mom told me not to talk to strangers. But I am a person that likes... Read More
Family After Foster Care – I want my daughter to have the love and security I finally found
I met my child’s mother when I was 21 and she was 22. After I got the courage to ask her out, we caught that instant connection. I had grown up in foster care, and she had come from... Read More
Trying Again – This time, I have the support to face my feelings
I first smoked crack on a cold winter day when I was 19. At the time I was feeling desperate. I’d heard that crack would make me feel no pain, and it did. What pulled me in was... Read More
Don’t Battle Alone – It’s important to show the court that you have people on your team
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... Read More
My father was gone and my mother had died by the time I was 7. I was raised by relatives. My main caregiver was what you’d consider “old fashioned”—strict and not very affectionate. I felt insecure and always looked... Read More
A Step in My Direction – I wanted to be left alone but kindness helped me find my way
My kids were taken into custody in 2007. I was using meth and selling also.
I never, ever wanted to hurt my kids. I thought I loved them with all my heart.
At the time,... Read More
Having no one to turn to makes parenting harder and increases the risk of child maltreatment. But until now, the federal government has mostly funded investigations and removals, without putting much money into supporting and strengthening families. Too often,... Read More
How does child welfare funding work? – Understanding the Family Stability and Kinship Care Act
If you’re a parent reading Rise, chances are you’ve been affected by the child welfare system. But do you know how child welfare gets funded, or how that funding affects you as a parent?
Right now... Read More
Hearing from Families – Parents testify in Congress about preventive supports
On Aug. 4, the executive director of the Child Welfare Organizing Project, Sandra Killett, a parent activist in New York City and mother whose son was placed in foster care, and Rosalina Burton, an intern with FosterClub... Read More
NYC Coalition Educates Lawmakers on How Preventive Services Can Keep Kids Safe at Home
The federal Family Stability and Kinship Care Act, introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon on August 4, would give states more flexibility to provide family support services that could keep children safe at home... Read More