The so-called Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), does not prevent and it does not treat. Instead, it targets our most vulnerable neighbors, particularly those living in poverty and especially Black, Latinx, and Indigenous families. Through policies like mandated reporting, social workers, medical professionals, and other community helpers are made agents of the surveillance state and part of the machinery of family policing, regulation, separation, and destruction. Join NAASW and Haymarket for a panel discussion that will explain the harms of CAPTA and discuss what can be done about it.

***Register through Eventbrite to receive a link to the video conference on the day of the event. This event will also be recorded and live captioning will be provided.***

Panelists:

Joyce McMillan is a thought leader, advocate, activist, community organizer, and educator. Her mission is to remove systemic barriers in communities of color by bringing awareness to the racial disparities in systems where people of color are disproportionately affected.

David P. Kelly, JD, MA, is Co-Director of the Family Justice Group. For over a decade he served in the United States Children’s Bureau, holding positions as Special Assistant to the Associate Commissioner, Senior Policy Advisor on Courts and Justice and overseeing the Children’s Bureau’s work with the legal and judicial community. Prior to joining the federal government, David was an Assistant Staff Director at the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law and served as Senior Assistant Child Advocate at the New Jersey Office of the Child Advocate. David began his career as an attorney at the Youth Advocacy Center at Covenant House New Jersey where he represented homeless, runaway, and at-risk youth on a variety of legal issues and led the organization’s policy initiatives; he later became Director of Legal and Clinical services.

Matt Holm, MD, community pediatrician, Melrose, Bronx, NY

Miriam Mack is Policy Director of The Bronx Defenders’ Family Defense Practice. She received her J.D. from Boston University School of Law. Prior to joining The Bronx Defenders, Miriam was a legal fellow at the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, focusing on issues of racial and reproductive justice. Thereafter, she clerked for the Honorable Solomon Oliver, Jr., in the Northern District of Ohio, and then the Honorable Justice Geraldine S. Hines of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. Miriam holds a B.A. in History from Columbia University.

Richard Wexler, executive director National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, author, Wounded Innocents: The Real Victims of the War Against Child Abuse (Prometheus Books: 1990, 1995).

Sonia Neblett has been a Parent Advocate for three years with the Office of Respondent Parent Counsel (ORPC) in Colorado. As a young parent , she was forced to navigate the family policing system after her sons' involvement with the juvenile legal system. Which quickly led into an open dependency and neglect case. After her personal experience surviving the child welfare system, she decided to focus her career in the helping profession. She soon became a mental health peer support coach with the Wellness Program at Denver Mental Health Center of Colorado.Highlighting the overlap in systems of the populations she served with mental health support services , she realized many of her clients were currently involved in child welfare cases. Combining her experience with system involvement , as well as her fierce advocacy skills , she has been able to successfully support parents working alongside parent defense attorneys. Over the years Sonia has been a vital support in helping many of her clients experiencing homelessness obtain stable housing, giving her name "the housing whisperer”. As a new group of Parents Advocates join the Colorado defense team , Sonia continues to support the team by providing mentorship to the new contactors, as well as providing trainings to professionals and stakeholders in child welfare.

Jey Rajamaran, Attorney and Management Consultant, Family Justice Group

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This event is sponsored by the Network to Advance Abolitionist Social Work and Haymarket Books. While all of our events are freely available, we ask that those who are able make a solidarity donation in support of our important publishing and programming work.