BY EBONIE KING

	Illustration by Carlos Rios

For a month after my first court date, I did not begin any of the services, did not visit my son or go to court, and fell deeper into my addiction to crack cocaine. I felt hopeless. I believed that I could trust no one to help me.

A friend convinced me to visit my son and stop feeling sorry for myself. After I saw my son, I went to the next court date. This time, instead of the lawyer who had first represented me, I found out that a whole team from the Center for Family Representation (CFR) had been assigned to represent me: attorneys, a social worker and a parent advocate. My team told me, “We’re here for you.” They spoke to me with respect and gave me a glimmer of hope.

I was not ready to be clean, and I was honest about that. The CFR team was straightforward, too. They told me that if I didn’t get myself together, they would not be able to be of any help to me. Monique, the parent advocate, then took a walk with me and took me to lunch. She asked me to go into treatment and do the right thing in order to be proud of myself and to have a son who is proud of his mom. Monique didn’t judge or disrespect me. She pushed me hard in a good way.

In my drug program, I found out that I had a bigger problem than drugs. Even once I got clean, I was in pain and full of distrust. Every time I went to court, the report about my behavior was very negative. But my CFR team jumped on my strong points. I was surprised that my team continued to speak to me with respect even after they heard the bad things about me in court.

Every time my team saw me, I had an attitude about something that was going wrong, and I was pushy. I was annoyed about going through the system. But I called CFR every time I ran into trouble. I grew to trust them because, in court, they stuck to reuniting me with my son. They cared and they touched me by being themselves.

From Rights to Reality A plan for parent advocacy and family-centered child welfare reform

From Rights to Reality is designed to unite parents and parent advocacy around a common set of goals. It identifies 15 rights for parents affected by the child welfare system. Most parents do not yet have these rights in child welfare proceedings. From Rights to Reality represents a commitment to working in our communities and nationwide to make these rights a reality. Click below to learn more about each of the 15 parent rights. Read the introduction here. Click here to download From Rights to Reality.