Friends to Fathers is a New York-based program that supports child welfare-affected fathers to become more accountable for their actionsand reunify with their families. My husband found support there when we were going through our child welfare case.
Derek Silvers, who was the director of the program when my husband went there, told us that the majority of referrals from child welfare are for domestic violence. But, he says, what’s really going … Read More
When I met Rene, I don’t know what I saw in him because physically he wasn’t too handsome. I think it was his character, his aggressiveness, which later on was what made me leave.
I met Rene at work and got close to him by asking him to help me. He started saying to me, “You owe me a lot.” “I’ll pay you back,” I told him. “But not with money,” he … Read More
Tanya McLeod knows what it’s like to be the victim of false and malicious child abuse reports. Soon after her husband went to jail forbreaking an order of protection, child welfare workers showed up at her door. Over a three-month period, more than five detectives and child welfare workers came to her house, as early as 7 a.m. and late into the night. She was sure it was her husband who’d made the … Read More
When I was 10 years old, my mentally ill mother walked out on me and my four siblings. As I got older, I discovered that I had a unique gift:identification. Because I had suffered abandonment and childhood unrest, I found that I was able to identify with the insecurities of emotionally wounded children.
My husband grew up in a stable, close-knit family. His family set the example of how things should be while … Read More
When parents are at their wit’s end, they sometimes think child welfare can do a better job controlling their teens than they can. Priti Kataria,director of the ACT Project (Adolescents Confronting Transition) for older youth at Lawyers For Children, cautions parents against voluntarily placing teens in foster care:
Sometimes parents decide to seek help from child welfare when they have seen their teen’s situation get worse and worse. The child is … Read More
