Overpolicing Parents
How America’s CPS Dragnet Ensnares Families
An investigation in partnership with NBC News uncovers the unequal treatment of poor families and parents of color by the child welfare system.
Native American Families Are Being Broken Up in Spite of a Law Meant to Keep Children With Their Parents
After fighting to win back her parental rights, a young Native American mother prevailed. Then the state came for her second child.
Arizona’s Governor-Elect Chooses Critic of Racial Disparities in Child Welfare to Lead CPS Agency
Matthew Stewart will become the first Black leader of the Department of Child Safety, which ProPublica and NBC News found had investigated the families of 1 in 3 Black children in metro Phoenix during a recent five-year period.
In Child Welfare Cases, Most of Your Constitutional Rights Don’t Apply
The child welfare system rarely offers the same rights as the criminal justice system, leaving many families facing permanent separation without due process protections.
The “Death Penalty” of Child Welfare: In Six Months or Less, Some Parents Lose Their Kids Forever
Twenty-five years ago, Congress passed a law aimed at speeding up adoptions of children languishing in foster care. In the process, it destroyed hundreds of thousands of families through the termination of parental rights.
For Black Families in Phoenix, Child Welfare Investigations Are a Constant Threat
One in three Black children in Maricopa County, Arizona, faced a child welfare investigation over a five-year period, leaving many families in a state of dread. Some parents are pushing back.
How We Analyzed Child Welfare Investigations
Reporters crunched data from millions of child protective services cases to understand who is most affected by the system.
Police Need Warrants to Search Homes. Child Welfare Agents Almost Never Get One.
Each year, child protective services agencies inspect the homes of roughly 3.5 million children, opening refrigerators and closets without a warrant. Only about 5% of these kids are ultimately found to have been physically or sexually abused.
Mandatory Reporting Was Supposed to Stop Severe Child Abuse. It Punishes Poor Families Instead.
After the Sandusky child abuse scandal rocked Pennsylvania, the state required more professionals to report suspected child abuse. That led to a strained child welfare system and more unsubstantiated reports against low-income families.
