Last year around this time, this story came out. I still think about a lot of these folks, and I still think what they have to say is really important.

A Michigan mom was investigated by CPS —and had her children removed —for supporting her trans child, by @strawburriez.bsky.social. 8/8 nymag.com/intelligence...

Book 184: We Were Once a Family by @strawburriez.bsky.social

“I am so bored by AI. One of the things I love about the theatre is AI can’t do it.” Ethan Hawke is a dude 👌🏻

Missouri's child welfare agency won't give families any money to help with housing so they can keep their children. But it does give foster families money to cover housing when kids are removed and placed with them.

Every year, tens of thousands of children are taken from their families because their parents can't afford decent housing. Most child welfare agencies do virtually nothing to help them even as the affordable housing crisis worsens. www.thenation.com/article/soci...

Recently finished @strawburriez.bsky.social 's WE WERE ONCE A FAMILY, and I'm still thinking about a few weeks later. I feel like we're in a cultural moment where we're struggling to know how to protect kids. Not just how but whether, how much, which kids, against whom...

Think im gonna need to join some kinda support group after reading this one (esp. with this current administration) 🥲💙📚

Ten Books to Get To Know Me (upEND edition) 📚 And if you want to learn more about #FamilyPolicing and #Abolition, we have a whole #syllabus on our website. upendmovement.org/syllabus/

"Conservative politicians lean on tropes about 'groomers' and 'pedophiles' that drum up support from a wide swath of Americans... And the laws are getting increasingly punitive.” #ReclaimingSafety @strawburriez.bsky.social buff.ly/esqjYKI

From @strawburriez.bsky.social:

(2/2) I have had these blurbs for months and still feel bowled over every time I see them! I can't imagine a better gift. @brian-goldstone.bsky.social @strawburriez.bsky.social

My deepest thanks to @strawburriez.bsky.social

Is there a Calendly type app that syncs to your iPhone calendar? Cause this is killing me

An unusual bill now before the Texas Legislature would tighten conditions for CPS workers to pull kids from their parents’ homes. 

We assume that victims will find closure when the people who hurt them are imprisoned. But many say that to heal, they need something else entirely. @strawburriez.bsky.social

Finally got the chance to sit with this one. It’s extremely well done, of course, as all Rachel Aviv’s work is, but it hit pretty deep because I’ve been thinking really deeply about these themes all year. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

this was a book club one and it is not an easy read emotionally but I really recommend it!!!

In Georgia, a mom facing eviction reached out to DFCS for help. They offered her nothing. Soon the agency took her kids away because of "inadequate housing." The state then paid *$6,200 a month* to house her kids in foster care. One of the most important and infuriating stories I read this year:

Since I have actual scarlet fever right now, I found this great essay on the real Beth March by Carmen Maria Machado. www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/08...

NEW: Women experiencing pregnancy loss in states with abortion bans told us they wished they had known what to expect and how to advocate for themselves. We created this guide for anyone who finds themselves in the same position. ⤵️

***CONTENT WARNING: The featured article includes descriptions of child sexual abuse.*** A recent article by @strawburriez.bsky.social highlights the stories of survivors of child sexual abuse (CSA) who seek safety & justice outside of punitive systems. 🧵

This is such vital, illuminating work on an deeply complicated & challenging issue. Reported and written with admirable care by @strawburriez.bsky.social:

If you’re interested in reading more—and in pushing back against the flood of lies about homelessness that will dominate headlines over the next four years—the book is available for pre-order here:

Let this sink in: there’s not a single state, city, or county in America where someone with a disability who receives SSI can afford a one-bedroom apartment. SSI payments are capped at $943 a month nationwide. The average monthly rent is $1,399—or an astounding *148%* of an SSI recipient’s income.

“A little puppy knows that it can’t get kicked out of its pack or it will die—coyotes know that, baby deer know that,” said Staci K. Haines, author of “The Politics of Trauma.” “That’s a deep, profound, instinctual knowing.” newrepublic.com/article/1883...

thank you so much, @strawburriez.bsky.social

This is one of the most powerful, confronting, and empathetic stories I’ve read in a long time.

An incredibly nuanced look at the devastating topic of child sexual abuse and how our typical responses often do more harm than good--and how we can do better by survivors.

Survivors, and particularly prison abolitionists, are often asked about forgiveness, as if taking prison off the table as a punishment requires selflessly forgiving your abuser. That question misunderstands the problem entirely. newrepublic.com/article/1883...

Really thoughtful read on survivors of childhood sexual assault who don't view punishment as a good resolution. (Content note, some graphic description/discussion of child sexual assault.)

Thought-provoking. It would really be radically transformative to consider CSA within this sort of framework, and to accord survivors significantly more agency at every juncture. Achieving genuine justice and adequate amends always seems so rare and impossible. There must be a better way.

Masterful analysis @strawburriez.bsky.social: - “However society chooses to deal w/the people who have harmed them, wounds like theirs may never heal. But what if we shifted the view to them, and their needs? Could we lessen their shame, could we witness their grief? Could that…allow them to heal?”

As a society, we deal with child sexual abuse in one of two ineffective ways: throwing perpetrators one by one behind bars, or ignoring their harms altogether.

Important, thoughtful story touching on how the warped, QAnon-style fervor around child sexual abuse is making our world - you guessed it - even less safe for kids and survivors. Not a surprise, but this is such needed, quality work newrepublic.com/article/1883...

Great read (as you’d expect from Roxanna)

Most important piece I have read on this topic in a while. I was sexually assaulted at six years old, and the legal system's focus on retribution rather than healing is exactly what brought me to study restorative justice as an adult. Thank you so much for this @strawburriez.bsky.social

"The legal system is individualized. ... There’s a person who did a bad act. Someone is the victim. This victim will get better, feel better, if this person is punished. That whole equation is not true. It’s just not true.”

My latest, for the New Republic, asks: What do survivors of child sexual abuse have to teach us about justice, and about healing? And might we start listening to what they have to say? newrepublic.com/article/1883...

Fancy seeing you here.

We Were Once a Family by @strawburriez.bsky.social about the murder of the Hart children in 2016 & how multiple systems failed them & countless others. Gives a look at how adoption is not altruistic & the way poor families continue to be penalized. Roxanna treats the story with such care.

Finally rounding the bend on this story I was researching 11 months ago ... very excited for it to be out in the world

i would revive alt weeklies across the land and run them at a loss til i died

almost through with @strawburriez.bsky.social book. punishingly sad but surreal. just a crazy feat or reporting and storytelling us.macmillan.com/books/978037...

apropos of this horrible feeling, I just finished @strawburriez.bsky.social’s We Were Once a Family and it’s a wonderful and heartbreaking book, utterly damning, and very much worth reading if you’re interested in how this country treats families and children bookshop.org/p/books/we-w...

Ok I’m gonna try it again …

From Politics and Trauma by Staci K Haines.

I appreciate this thorough, thoughtful @strawburriez.bsky.social article about abolishing the child welfare system and investing in non-carceral community supports. @inthesetimesmag.bsky.social inthesetimes.com/article/chil...

I wrote about the growing movement to abolish the child welfare system — and the resulting backlash — for In These Times. inthesetimes.com/article/chil...