The Family Policing System
DCFS, CPS, and CWS are some of the many acronyms for the boogieman known too well for separating families and taking kids away.
The Child Welfare System is meant to be a social good, aiding in the protection of our most vulnerable. However, as with many things in this country these agencies are built upon the legacy of racism.
The safety of a family and the quality of a home are far too often dependent upon the whiteness of one’s skin and the money in their pocket.
It Starts in the Home
Kelsey Carter was not unfamiliar with California’s Child Welfare Services as November 2020 she would give birth to her third child and first daughter. Kelsey’s two sons had been removed from her care at birth when both babies had tested positive for drugs, with one being placed in the care of her mother and the other later being returned to her custody.
Though Kelsey was in treatment for substance use disorder she feared losing custody once again and made the decision to birth at home. She did research and contacted a midwife in preparation, desperate to do right by her family.
Kelsey went into labor two weeks early, birthing alone and delivering her daughter Kiera. After securing the umbilical cord and attempting to breastfeed, Kelsey lost consciousness only to wake up and find that her newborn baby had not survived.
For Temecia and Rodney Jackson, the choice to birth at home fits the growing trend of Black people turning to home birth as an alternative to racism and the risk of death.
With the help of their midwife, Cheryl Edinbyrd, the Jacksons successfully brought into the world their daughter Mila, only to have her removed from their custody four days later.
After Mila’s first doctor’s visit with the family’s physician, Dr. Anand Bhatt, she was diagnosed with jaundice. Bhatt encouraged that the baby be hospitalized, but after speaking with their midwife, the Jacksons chose to try known and highly successful home remedies.
Racist stereotypes often paint Black families as broken and Black people as incapable of being good parents. Bhatt’s decision to report the Jackson family is just one more example of this thinking, as his “professional judgment" was trusted over that of a licensed Black birth worker and Mila’s parents.
The family policing system turned Temecia and Rodney’s decision to care for their baby at home into a crime even going as far as to arrest Rodney for preventing the execution of a civil process.
Getting Back Home
Kelsey Carter was arrested for the death of baby Kiera and charged with murder with malice as well as child endangerment. The state claimed this was not an attack on home births but rather focused on Kelsey’s actions and her use of drugs.
The criminalization of substance abuse disorder is one that more often impacts Black families, as doctors are much quicker to test Black babies for drugs. Though she was not Black, Kelsey’s decisions, including delaying calling for help, show how criminalizing substance use disorder prevents people from feeling safe to get necessary care during pregnancy.
“If CWS was set up to help pregnant women with services to ensure a healthy pregnancy and delivery with the assurance that mother and child would remain, many women would not have to face making less than ideal birthing decisions.”
-- Kelsey Carter
The threat of the family policing system felt so great that Kelsey took a risk in the hopes that her home would be the safest place for her and her baby. The murder charge was eventually dropped, and Kelsey accepted a plea for child endangerment.
For the Jacksons, protests, press conferences, and supervised visitations were all they could rely on in the first weeks of baby Mila’s life.
Dr. Dorothy Roberts, an expert on the racist history of the family policing system, spoke of the Jackson family's story and pointed out how state services do not value or prioritize the wellbeing of the child.
"These cases represent the troubling reality in America: who deserves to remain a family is “deeply shaped by white supremacy and racism”
-- Dr. Dorothy Roberts
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