To me, the child welfare system is like the monster in the dark in my kids’ room. I have done everything I’ve had to do to get that monster out.
When I became a mother, I wanted to end my family’s cycle of losing children to the foster care system.
My grandmother lost my father.
My mother and father lost me.
My sister lost her children.
My brother lost his child.
ACS came into my life because I was hitting my … Read More
The day in court that they terminated my parental rights I asked my daughter if I could kiss her. She looked over to check if her foster mother would let her. Then she put her head down. I went and gave her a big kiss on that soft little cheek of hers. Her face lit up. Then her lawyer took her away. It was the last time I saw my daughter.
This was a date I thought … Read More
On Friday, the New York Times published a story highlighting the impact of ACS’s heightened scrutiny of parents in NYC’s poorest neighborhoods, the increased number of children now being removed from home, and the struggle families face repairing the damage when children enter foster care unnecessarily.
In the first quarter of 2017, requests for removals were up 40% over the same time last year, the Times reported. Many children are returned within days or weeks; nationwide, nearly 10% of children are removed from home for 30 days … Read More
In 2005, I fell in love with a woman and moved across the country to be with her.
But when we arrived in California, she and I and her little girl, Casey, were cramped up living with friends. Eventually, we got our own place, but it was hard to make ends meet. I’d earned my associate’s degree in horticulture but couldn’t find anything in landscaping. After a while I was willing to work any job, including … Read More
I froze. My head was pounding and I felt like that should have been my last day working in child welfare. I just wanted to go home and lock myself in my room.
I was in Bronx Family Court, being yelled at because a parent on my caseload had missed a visit, even though up until that point, she had always made all her visits.
“What happened? Why didn’t this visit happen?” the judge asked, over and … Read More
