The Work

Reparations

The concept of Reparations is rooted in the basic principle of making amends for wrongdoing. In the context of international law, reparations refers to the obligation of a Government to take concrete steps to provide redress to individuals or groups experiencing deprivations of their human rights. The United Nations recognizes a five-element Reparations framework: Restitution, Satisfaction, Rehabilitation, Compensation, and Guarantees of Non-Repetition. The histories and narratives uplifted throughout our 2025 Reparations Report underscore the urgent need for transformative change in our society’s approach to family wellbeing.

Our Commitment

B.L.U.’s commitment to Reparations for victims and survivors of family policing is also grounded in the idea that legal and policy solutions should not be limited to preventing future harms from occurring. Legal and policy solutions should also seek to make amends for harm already caused or currently occurring. Our commitment to Reparations is one aspect of the organization’s broader commitment to engaging in community organizing and policy advocacy rooted in Abolition and Reproductive Justice.

Tangible Holistic Support

Reparations should not only acknowledge the harm inflicted by the family policing system but also provide tangible support to rectify the consequences of these injustices on victims and survivors of this system. As we move towards a more just and equitable future together, it is imperative that we are moving towards alternative approaches to family wellbeing that prioritize the needs and dignity of all families, regardless of race, gender, or socioeconomic status.

child welfare=family policing

As victims and survivors of state intervention in our lives, the lives of our families, and in our communities, we use the term family policing system instead of child welfare system. We use this term because it reflects the primary function of this system—to surveil, intimidate, harass, violate, and further marginalize poor, working class, Black and brown caregivers and the children we love and care for.

Racist Practices

Black children in the United States experience disproportionate involvement in the family policing system, with higher rates of investigation, removal from their parents, and termination of parental rights compared to white children. Black children in foster care are moved more frequently, receive fewer appropriate services, and are less likely to be reunited with their families compared to white children. Federal laws, such as the CAPTA and mandated reporting requirements, contribute to racial discrimination and unequal outcomes in the family policing system. The United Nations’ CERD expressed concern about racial discrimination in the U.S. family policing system and recommended amending or repealing laws and policies that disproportionately affect families of racial and ethnic minorities. (American Bar Association)

Foster Care-to-Prison Pipeline

The Foster Care-to-Prison Pipeline refers to the collaboration between policing systems to pipeline young people in foster care into jails and prisons. According to national data, over 50% of young people in foster care will have an encounter with the juvenile criminal legal system through arrest, conviction, or detention.1 Another national study revealed that 70% of young people in foster care experience at least one arrest before age 26.2 Without the support and resources to thrive, many of the young people in foster care don’t.

community care

We do not have to wait for a systemic change in order to begin creating thriving communities together. Reintroduce yourselves to your neighbors, and get to know them. See whether you and your neighbors would like to alternate which caregiver walks the neighborhood’s children to school each day. If you’re a single mama, check on your fellow single mamas and see if there are ways you can support one another. If you’re worried about the kids in the neighborhood having something to do after school, see if you and your neighbors can come up with something together. We do not need permission to organize to create the communities that we want to raise our children in!

Walking School Buses

Walking school buses (WSBs) are an organized mode of active transportation for students walking to school. WSBs have a fixed route, with designated stops and pick up times when children can join adult chaperones on their way to school. These programs can choose routes prioritizing safety for children and convenience for parents who may benefit from the lending hand watching over their child on their way to school.

Harm Reduction

Harm reduction is a practical and transformative approach that incorporates community-driven public health strategies — including prevention, risk reduction, and health promotion — to empower people who use drugs (and their families) with the choice to live healthy, self-directed, and purpose-filled lives. Harm reduction centers the lived and living experience of people who use drugs, especially those in underserved communities, in these strategies and the practices that flow from them.

reproductive justice

Reproductive Justice is a feminist framework and an intersectional political movement grounded in both international human rights law and Black Feminist thought, centered around abortion and birth control.

It recognizes that all people—those with wanted pregnancies and those who experience pregnancy loss—are affected by harmful myths such as “fetal personhood” and “fetal rights.” These narratives undermine bodily autonomy and have been used to justify criminalizing pregnancy outcomes. No one should face arrest or government control because of a pregnancy, nor should pregnancy strip anyone of their personhood.

At B.L.U., we view and do our work through a Reproductive Justice lens, recognizing that the family policing system denies poor, Black, and other marginalized people the right to build and care for their families. The systemic kidnapping of poor, Black, and other marginalized children from their families interferes with these families’ ability to bring children into this world and to raise them. One of the four tenets of Reproductive Justice is the principle that each person has a human right to “nurture the children we have in a safe and healthy environment”. The Family Policing System and other policing systems continue to deny this basic human right to Black mothers and their families.

updated laws

The Informed Consent Act (S.320B/A.109B) supports healthy pregnancies, infants, and families by giving pregnant and postpartum people the information they need to make informed decisions about drug testing and screening. This plays a vital role in preserving the patient-provider relationship that promotes the health and well-being of pregnant and postpartum people and their newborns. Ensuring that pregnant and postpartum people understand the actual
medical necessity and provide meaningful consent before undergoing a drug test or screening for themselves and/or their newborn is critical.

In the relatively few cases where there is a legitimate clinical need to
conduct a drug test on a pregnant person, postpartum person, or the
newborn, this must be explained to the patient along with the potential
risks and benefits, just as would be the case for any other test or
procedure under long-standing informed consent principles.

When patient-provider trust is broken, maternal-fetal health is at greater risk because pregnant people can be afraid to access prenatal care. This has devastating consequences for already dire maternal mortality rates, which are even higher for Black women.

Current drug testing practices are racist and discriminatory. Black and Latine families are disproportionately subjected to drug testing and reporting to the family policing system, despite similar drug use rates amongst white people. Positive drug tests can lead to family separation, which causes irreparable harm to infants and parents. Research shows that newborns have better health outcomes if they remain with their parents.

B.L.U. is a steering committee member of Informed Consent New York Coalition.

Abolition

The abolition of child welfare is a movement dedicated to ending the existing family policing system and introducing alternative methods to support children, families, and communities. Advocates for abolition argue that the current system is racist, harmful, and rooted in surveillance and separation. They believe the system should be dismantled and replaced with family and community-based approaches that do not involve state-sanctioned separation of children from their parents.

Historically, chattel slavery abolitionists used a combination of strategies to achieve abolition, including legislative advocacy, running for elected political office, publishing and distributing anti-slavery literature, and both violent and nonviolent direct action. Since the formal end of slavery in 1865 and the reconfiguration of slavery through the prison industrial complex and other policing systems, Abolitionist as a term of self-identification has evolved into a more expansive political ideology encompassing the end of every component of our society that upholds policing and imprisonment.

Reparations

Our Commitment

Tangible Holistic Support

PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH

Zine – Self Published

REPAIRING HARMS FROM FAMILY POLICING

child welfare=family policing

Racist Practices

Foster Care-to-Prison Pipeline

Anonymous Parent, 2025 Reparations Report

community care

Walking School Buses

Harm Reduction

reproductive justice

updated laws

Abolition

Reparations

Our Commitment

Tangible Holistic Support

PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH

Zine – Self Published

REPAIRING HARMS FROM FAMILY POLICING

child welfare=family policing

Racist Practices

Foster Care-to-Prison Pipeline

Anonymous Parent, 2025 Reparations Report

community care

Walking School Buses

Harm Reduction

reproductive justice

updated laws

Abolition

This website uses cookies.