Report

‘If I Wasn’t Poor, I Wouldn’t Be Unfit’: The Family Separation Crisis in the US Child Welfare System, an ACLU research report produced in collaboration with Human Rights Watch, documents the child welfare’s system’s disproportionate impact on Black and Indigenous families and people living in poverty. 

Based on comprehensive research, including interviews with caregivers, staff, and experts; policy analysis; and new analysis of government data, this report details how conditions of poverty, such as a family’s struggle to pay rent or maintain housing, are misconstrued as neglect, and interpreted as evidence of an inability and lack of fitness to parent. 

The research found that child welfare systems too often charge parents of neglect and take away their children instead of providing support to keep families together. 

In addition to socioeconomic disparities, the report documents racial and ethnic disparities in child welfare system involvement. Black and Indigenous families disproportionately face intrusive child welfare interventions, including investigations and unjust removal of their children. This research not only provides a national perspective, but also includes select data points for each state and a deep dive into California, New York, Oklahoma, and West Virginia. 

The report concludes with concrete recommendations for federal, state, and local policymakers and stakeholders to take immediate measures to reduce the harmful impact of child welfare interventions, and to strengthen and support families and communities to prevent child maltreatment, without subjecting them to surveillance and regulation.

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Wednesday, November 23, 2022 - 9:15am

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As the federal judiciary has become increasingly hostile to rights protections, the ACLU has, where appropriate, turned to state courts and invoked state rather than federal claims to advance civil rights and civil liberties. This survey features more than 125 cases, filed within the last five years or so across 24 states and the District of Columbia. 

In these cases, the ACLU, in partnership with its state affiliate offices, has advanced arguments, most often in state courts based on state constitutional and statutory civil rights provisions, seeking protections above and beyond what federal law provides. This list is not exhaustive, but it provides a snapshot of the wide range of claims that we have pursued through state constitutional and civil rights litigation.

Date

Tuesday, November 15, 2022 - 10:00am

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This ACLU research report, No Fighting Chance: ICE's Denial of Access to Counsel in U.S. Immigration Detention Centers, provides the first comprehensive study of the barriers to access to counsel in U.S. immigration detention centers nationwide. Based on attorney surveys and calls to all immigration detention facilities nationwide, this report documents how ICE has systematically restricted the most basic modes of communication that detained people need to connect with legal counsel and the outside world. The report documents the many barriers that detained people face to communicate with counsel via telephone, video calls, mail, and in-person visits. It concludes with key recommendations for Congress and DHS to address these issues, and the crisis of detention more broadly.

Date

Thursday, June 9, 2022 - 2:30pm

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