All parents need places where they feel safe and supported. Many parents want help but fear opening up about their struggles and don’t know where to safely find support. If children are in foster care, parents may not know what services to ask for to help them heal. Parents write about the supports that have helped them feel safe, bond with their children, grow as people and parents, reunify with their children—and keep their children out of foster care.
This webpage offers a list of organizations that provide support and resources that we hope can be useful to our community around healing, accountability, self- and community care and safety. We also provide resources that can support our continued collective learning around the intersection of family policing and domestic violence and intimate partner violence.
In honor of National Reunification Month, Lindsay Reilly, a parent impacted by the family policing system, discusses her experiences with peer support both during her ACS case and since she reunified with her two youngest children last year. She also shares her message to parents working to reunify their families. Lindsay will graduate from the Rise & Shine Parent Leadership Program in June.
The International Parent Advocacy Network (IPAN) partnered with Rise to develop the Toolkit for Transformation. Here, we highlight information and resources from the Support Groups for Impacted Parents section of the toolkit.
We are excited to invite NYC parents impacted by the family policing system (child welfare system) to join Rise in building a Parents’ Platform!
Before joining a peer support group, I would walk into the foster care agency ready to raise hell. I was having real concerns about my case. I didn’t feel that I was getting the information I needed. I was struggling and had no one to talk to. I wore my anger on my face and didn’t think twice about lashing out.
Throughout my life, I have been used and let down and I learned not to … Read More
