This #BlackHistoryMonth, we will explore the racist and harmful origins of family separation as punishment in the United States.
Impacted families know first-hand how child welfare systems perpetuate the oppression of Black, Indigenous, and other children and families of color through traumatic surveillance, investigation, and removal practices.
At Black Families Love & Unite, we utilize education, workshops, and advocacy trainings to help build the power of communities, allies and co-conspirators to interrupt harm and support families. Because community members deserve support, not punishment.
🥰 Let’s begin to reimagine a different world together.
#BLM
B.L.U. would like to welcome you to our brand new Storytelling Hub— a place for impacted folks to share their untold narratives, stories, poems, art, etc on our website and social media.
In this space, it’s important to know you’re not going through this alone. Folks can share advice when it comes to dealing huge emotional traumas like fighting for the parental rights to your child or being accused of neglect unjustly. These stories can be in the form of art, poetry, personal essays, etc.
We want your stories to be a place where you can validate your own experiences and read about other people’s experiences. It’s important to know we are not alone.
Ready to tell your story? Visit bit.ly/BLU-stories or #linkinbio. ❤️
JOIN US IN THE FIGHT FOR REPARATIONS & EQUITY.
We help build the power of communities, allies and co-conspirators to interrupt harm and support families.
🔗Donate today, link in bio.
We’re gaining momentum! State lawmakers, health care professionals, advocates, and impacted families gathered at the Capitol to rally in support of the Maternal Health, Dignity, and Consent Act, and our words continue to be featured in the press. This act supports healthy pregnancies, infants, and families by promoting trust and transparency between people and their health care providers—essential for accessible, high-quality care. Learn more at rmedconsentny.com
It’s #NationalFosterCareMonth, and B.L.U. is here to talk about some hard truths about the foster care system.
When you look at outcomes of children who enter foster care versus children who stay home, just on every single metric, it’s materially worse,” said David Shalleck-Klein, executive director and founder of the @familyjusticelawcenter .
Numerous social issues — homelessness, poverty, incarceration, mental health struggles, crime, substance use, and suicide — can often be traced back to foster care and the separation of children from their parents. 76% of children are taken from their homes due to allegations of neglect, often associated with poverty. Many of these parents want to and are trying to care for their children but lack the resources. Examples of this may include parents’ chronic inability to provide warm clothing or pay for electricity. (@standtogether )
Join us this May in really thinking critically about how we can support families more, in order to reduce the amount of children in the foster care system.
📣CALLING ALL FAMILY LAWYERS, MANDATED REPORTERS, AND ALLIES:
We invite you to share your experience in witnessing family policing or the “child welfare” system. Have you had to represent families in court? Do you work in pediatrics? Are you a social worker?
Then you may have some stories. Share with us what it’s like to be in those situations, witnessing the horror and strife of family separation in court, or anything else you’d like to share.
We would love for you to submit:
- Opinion Pieces
- Thought leadership on articles
- Essays and stories
- Any other format you may have
👉️Contribute to our storytelling hub and add in a diversity of perspectives to our page: bit.ly/BLU-stories
5 Acts of Community Care you can do!
- Write a small note to your neighbor inviting the culture of asking each other for help
- Weekly Kid Swap Nights
- Restock a community fridge near you
- Support someone who is grieving by walking or feeding their pets
- Start a community group chat
Some of these acts seem so simple, but can make a huge impact on someone’s day to day. The great thing about community is that it can grow organically so it’s not all on you. Once you start introducing a few others into the mix, the community will grow!
Do you have any additional recommendations on community care? Thank you to @witchesforhope for the ideas.
Still Standing: My Story of Survival, Separation, and Strength
Chapter 2 by Sharrocka Pettiford
I didn’t fall in love—I fell into survival wrapped in the illusion of love.
When you grow up in chaos, you don’t always know what red flags look like…
because they remind you of home.
He wasn’t all bad at first.
There were promises, smiles, moments that felt safe.
I wanted to believe in forever—
To believe I was finally building the family I’d always dreamed of.
👉️Have your own story or thoughts to share on family policing? Submit a pitch: bit.ly/BLU-Share
Link in bio
Hey everybody, just wanted to re-introduce myself for our new followers!
My name is Imani Worthy, Founder and Executive Director of Black Families Love & Unite. I’m a Bronx native (born and raised) whose family was impacted by the child welfare system in 2019.
When I emerged from my own experience with the child welfare system, I knew I had to heal my family, but wasn’t sure what that would look like. An apology from my doctor, who unnecessarily subjected me to CPS surveillance, wouldn’t heal the trauma from his threat. And healing the trauma from his threat does not guarantee that he would not do it again to someone else. Medical personnel contribute about 26 percent of CPS reports in any given year. I found myself imagining a world where these harms never took place. Though I was aware of the long history of reparations efforts relating to slavery for Black Americans, I wondered why reimagining the child welfare system had not been more central to those conversations.
Today, I reflect on my own experiences and those of the countless other parents who shouldered brutal intervention by the family policing system, and I find myself lucky to be with my son. While I no longer have an open child protective case, the experience has lasting effects. In a time when it is clear that our current systems do not support family well-being, and programs to address the accumulation of disadvantage are banned, I urge us to incorporate family policing into the conversation on reparations for Black Americans.
Building a world in which all families can thrive is possible. 🩷 🩷
Community building can look like walking your neighbor’s child to the bus stop or packing an extra snack for your child’s friend. Any small act can help build trust and community in your neighborhood, working towards strengthening the network around you to benefit everyone.
A neighbor who knows you work late, can offer to look after your child or offer a home cooked meal knowing you won’t have time to prepare much. It’s those small acts of kindness that go along way and acknowledge we all need help sometimes!
It takes a village. 💙
Show up for Black maternal health this week by calling and emailing your lawmaker in support of The Maternal Health, Dignity, and Consent Act! This goes a LONG way in helping the bill pass this year.
Across New York, Black pregnant and postpartum people and newborns are being disproportionately drug-tested for no medical reason — and without their consent. The Maternal Health, Dignity, and Consent Act calls for informed consent when drug testing or screening pregnant and postpartum patients. It supports healthy pregnancies, infants, and families by promoting trust and transparency between people and their health care providers.
And following BMHW, join reproductive justice advocates, impacted individuals, doulas, midwives, physicians, social workers, and attorneys for Advocacy Day in Albany! If you’re interested in attending, RSVP at bit.ly/MHDC-April21 by April 17th. Link in bio. #BMHW #blackmaternalhealthweek #blackmaternalhealth
The histories and narratives uplifted throughout our 2025 Reparations Report highlight the urgent need for transformative change in our society’s approach to family wellbeing.
Our analysis of deeply racialized, gendered, and class-based surveillance, family separations, and other mistreatment reveals a fundamentally unjust system that disproportionately harms already marginalized communities. What has been unearthed through the dozens of conversations that have taken place since February 2024 are indictments of the child welfare system as a whole.
Reparations should not only acknowledge the harm inflicted by the state but also provide tangible support to rectify the consequences of these injustices on victims and survivors of this system. As we move towards a more just and equitable future together, it is important that we are moving towards alternative approaches to family wellbeing that prioritize the needs and dignity of all families, regardless of race, gender, or socioeconomic status.
🔗Link in bio
