| Wednesday, September 27, 2023 8:00am - 4:30pm
Byron L. Warnken Moot Courtroom The University of Baltimore School of Law John and Frances Angelos Law Center |
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| On Wednesday, September 27, 2023, CFCC hosted an important day-long symposium focused on The Harm of Removal to Children, Parents, and Communities, presented by the Sayra and Neil Meyerhoff Center for Families, Children and the Courts (CFCC) at the University of Baltimore School of Law.
When children are separated from their parents by legal systems, they suffer permanent trauma. The anguish is no less for parents who find themselves without their children due to state intervention. Both parents and children experience detrimental effects on their mental, emotional, and physical health. Further, the larger community suffers when there is a systemic pattern of continually breaking up families. Join us to discuss the impact of family separation and to collectively brainstorm about how we keep families intact and support their health and well-being. |
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This years event and the pre-symposium book talk was held in person and on live stream via zoom.We are in the process of editing a transcribing a video recording of the event and will post it to the symposium event website shortly, along with highlights from the program. |
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Thank you to our Sponsor! |
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| September 26, 2023 | 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. The University of Baltimore School of Law John and Frances Angelos Law Center |
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An exciting and important pre-event held on the evening of September 26. Three of our symposium panelists discussed critical issues and perspectives informing this year’s symposium through the lens of their books: |
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Confronting the Racist Legacy of the American Child Welfare System: The Case for Abolition (Oxford University Press 2023) by Alan J. Dettlaff, professor and former dean of the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work |
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| The End of Family Court: How Abolishing the Court Brings Justice to Children and Families (NYU Press 2023) by Jane Spinak, the Edward Ross Aranow Clinical Professor of Law Emerita at Columbia Law School
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| A Child of the Indian Race: A Story of Return (Minnesota Historical Society Press 2022) by Sandy White Hawk, director of healing programs at the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition
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Morning Panel: The History of Family Separation and Removal - Watch the recording here.
Moderated by attorney and advocate Angela Burton, this panel deepened our understanding by providing a historical grounding for the family separation practices and policies that we see today. Topics included:
- Native American “boarding schools”, the Indian Adoption Project and the inter-generational effects of these practices;
- family separation through the Transatlantic slave trade and its impact on American descendants of slavery;
- the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), as well as mandated reporting and the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) of 1997;
- historic trends in family separation at the southern border; and
- the long standing role that homophobia and transphobia have played in facilitating the separation of LGBTQ youth from their families.
Meet the Panelists Angela Burton - Moderator, Attorney, and Child and Family Advocate Corey Best, Founder of Mining for Gold Currey Cook, Senior Counsel and Youth In Out-Of-Home Care Project Director Alan J. Dettlaff, Author, Professor and former Dean of the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work Sandy White Hawk, Author, and Founder and Director of Healing Programs at the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition |
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| Experts with lived experience engaged in an authentic discussion about the harm of removal as experienced by children and families today via placement in foster care and juvenile detention. This session will allow the audience an opportunity to reflect on the role system actors play in perpetuating harm and the ways they can align themselves and their organizations with the solutions proposed by the panelists and other directly impacted people and communities. Panelists shared their experiences and perspectives on:
- the intergenerational harms of family separation,
- parents of color is pathologized and penalized,
- the role biases play in detention and removal decisions,
- the need for community capacity and wisdom to be respected, and
- the solutions that they are most interested in exploring.
Meet the Panelists Michael D. Davis-Thomas, MDDT Speaks; Founder and Resilient Voices and Beyond podcast, Host Shemia Dillard, Justice and Joy National Collaborative (formerly National Crittenton), Senior Associate Tony Lodge, Venture Capital University Venture Fellow Christina Simmons, Office of State Public Defender (Mississippi), Parent Partner and Peer Support Specialist Robyn Wind Tiger, Generations United, GRAND Voices Support Coordinator |
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Afternoon Panel: Removal Today - Watch the recording here.
Moderated by Prudence Beidler Carr, Director of the American Bar Association's Center on Children and the Law, this panel provided a clear view of the statistics and practices of family removal today, including insights into the disproportionate impact of investigations, removals, and terminations of parental rights by race; an update on mandating reporting and ASFA; and family separation as policy and practice at the southern border.
Meet the Panelists Prudence Beidler Carr, ABA Center on Children and the Law, Director Dr. Tania Caballero, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics Rafael Lopez, Maryland Department of Human Services, Secretary Iesha Randolph, Baltimore native, singer, model and mother of four children Nena Villamar, Maryland Office of the Public Defender, Chief of Parental Defense Division Vicki Schultz, Maryland Legal Aid, Executive Director Jane Spinak, Author and Columbia Law School, Clinical Professor Emerita |
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University of Baltimore Speakers |
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| Please consider supporting CFCC’s Truancy Court Program!
Established in 2005, the Truancy Court Program (TCP) operates out of the University of Baltimore School of Law, Sayra and Neil Meyerhoff Center for Families, Children and the Courts, and is one of Maryland’s longest running, in-school programs designed to improve student attendance and support family needs. For almost 20 years, the TCP Team (consisting of a volunteer Judge, a Mentor, Case Manager, Coordinator, and Attorney) has served approximately 3,100 public school students and their families in 55 schools, over 40 of which are in Baltimore City. TCP operates in some of Baltimore’s most underserved communities, where students miss school due to a wide range of stressors – including violence, homelessness, grief, unemployment, transportation barriers, poor health, and poverty, to name a few. The CFCC maintains a fund to help students meet ongoing challenges that pop up throughout the year. This school year, the TCP is operating in six schools: Park Heights Academy (elementary), Collington Square Elementary/Middle, Lakeland Elementary/Middle, Maree G. Farring Elementary/Middle, Carver Vocational-Technical High School, and City Neighbors High School. Using these funds, each year the TCP team collaborates with its partner schools to identify families that would benefit from food support during school closures (i.e., winter break, spring break), as well as support with uniforms, clothing, transportation, and other sundry items. In the Baltimore City Public School System, 73% of elementary school students, 72% of middle school students, and 68% of high school students qualify for the Free and Reduced Meals program (FARMs). Many of our TCP families rely on school meals as a consistent source of nutrition. Donations will be used to provide families with food and other supports (e.g., uniforms, clothing, obtaining official documents, books) and support development of the Truancy Court Program. Your contributions make this possible. Thank you for helping to support Baltimore City students and their families! |
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Please share this event with colleagues. |
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| About Us We envision communities where children and families thrive without unnecessary involvement in the legal system. Our mission is to promote child and family well-being while inspiring the next generation of attorneys to prioritize the power, voice, and needs of families. We engage communities in all that we do and work tirelessly to transform systems that create barriers to family well-being.
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