Martin Luther King Jr. warned us about the danger of preferring order over justice. This post looks at what he actually said, and how those words apply to the family policing system today. Comfort was never the goal. Truth was. open.substack.com/pub/adoptees...

This scene tries to measure humanity. The way the film reduces him to “simple,” questions his intellect, and then tries to quantify his humanity is deeply unsettling. Hosted with (@itsjway.sky.social) #adopteesky

You can’t unconditionally love a child if the goal is assimilation. Adoption and foster care often demand conformity, not care — and for queer and trans kids, that demand is dangerous. This isn’t safety. It’s the family policing system at work. Hosted with (@itsjway.bsky.social) #adopteesky

“Do you have a mother?” That question isn’t curiosity. It’s erasure. If you’ve ever been asked about your “real” parents, you’re not imagining it. Hosted with (@itsjway.bsky.social) #adopteesky

That couch scene wasn’t about care. It was about control, fear framed as concern, surveillance framed as help. This is how the family policing system shows up early. If you’ve lived this, you’re not imagining it. Hosted with (@itsjway.bsky.social)

This season blends film analysis, lived experience, abolition, and political education to examine how media shapes belief. We’re starting with The Blind Side, a story that shaped how many people understand “saving” a child. If you’ve lived it, you’re not alone. Season starts January 9, 2026.

Film and TV teach us what to believe about “safety.” But media doesn’t just reflect reality, it shapes it. Those beliefs show up in courtrooms, policies, and families’ lives. Media teaches belief. Survivors teach truth. New season of Adoptees Crossing Lines starts January 9, 2026. #adopteesky

New season of Adoptees Crossing Lines starts January 9, 2026. We’re naming how family policing shows up in media, what films taught people to believe, and what survivors know is true. Hosted by adoptees Zaira + J Way (@itsjway.bsky.social). Share so it finds who needs it. #adopteesky

Wishing a peaceful, safe, and healthy New Year to everyone! 🎊 I took some time to reflect on 2025. open.substack.com/pub/adoptees...

Kids are sent to “new” relatives because the state cut those ties to begin with. Asking kids to adapt to choices made about them, not with them. Why not support before removal? (Source: Seattle Times) #adopteesky

Foster parents in Massachusetts want to unionize. Bill H229 exposes the truth: Money exists. It’s just not given to families before separation. Why fund separation when you could fund support? (Source: OnLabor, 2025) #adopteesky

NYC has launched a guaranteed income program for unhoused young adults, funded through the city budget. It reflects a growing shift toward material support over punishment, and recognition that cash can be a direct path to stability. Source: New York City Council #adopteesky

In Ithaca, NY residents are creating a free, neighborhood based childcare space grounded in mutual aid. This isn’t charity — it’s a community built alternative made necessary by policy choices in the U.S. #adopteesky

Decades of research show that many child removals are driven by housing insecurity, not safety. When systems treat fixable material conditions as neglect, children are exposed to far greater risk — often with devastating outcomes. #adopteesky

A new civil rights complaint in Minnesota raises urgent questions about how foster care treats transgender youth — and what accountability actually looks like when harm occurs. #adopteesky

A grandmother in Maryland is fighting for custody of her infant grandson after his mother’s death — despite the state’s stated commitment to kinship care. #adopteesky

Pennsylvania lawmakers are considering a bill that would stop parental incarceration from being used as the sole reason to terminate parental rights. When punishment extends to children, the harm doesn’t end at sentencing. #adopteesky

Monroe County’s latest CPS data shows a system draining resources from families already under pressure. When most cases find no harm, the harm of surveillance itself becomes impossible to ignore. Here’s what the new report reveals, and what community leaders are calling for next. #adopteesky

Cash assistance doesn’t create “dependency.” It creates stability. Guaranteed income programs across the country show the same thing again and again: Steady cash lowers stress, improves health, and makes it possible for people to work, plan, and breathe without punishment. #adopteesky

HOW does the industry keep getting worse. 😡

Nevada is adopting “Family-Match,” an algorithm that claims to improve adoption outcomes. Algorithms don’t repair separation. They streamline it. #adopteesky

A new national study confirms what adoptees have said for decades: medical care isn’t neutral for us. #adopteesky

Check out my latest posts on Substack. adopteescrossinglines.substack.com #adopteesky

Utah is advancing legislation to curb what many call adoption tourism — a pattern where agencies recruit vulnerable women from out of state to relinquish their babies in Utah. #adopteesky

NAAM is ending, but adoptees’ truths don’t fit into a once a year campaign. Awareness shouldn’t end on November 30th. Tell the full story — all year. #adopteesky

Poverty isn’t neglect. Most kids in foster care aren’t there because of abuse, they’re there because their parents couldn’t afford food, housing, or childcare. The solution isn’t foster care. It’s ending poverty. #adopteesky

Week 2 is up on Substack. This one is about what the podcast has taught me, about the system, about grief, and about telling the truth even when people don’t want to hear it. Read it here: adopteescrossinglines.substack.com #adopteesky

This National Adoption Month, check out our partners who are shifting dominant adoption narratives: Adoptees Crossing Lines @adopteecrossing.bsky.social Reproductive Justice in Adoption www.reprojusticeinadoption.org

Radical, abolitionist family-building: ✔️ protects family bonds. ✔️ honors chosen family. ✔️ builds kinship free from coercion & state violence.

Radical, abolitionist family-building rejects the commodification, separation, and displacement of children from their families & communities.

Rather than provide a robust social safety net to meet the needs of marginalized families, the state facilitates the buying and selling of their children through adoption. This is human trafficking, plain and simple.

Adoption is a multi-billion dollar industry. States receive financial rewards for every child adopted beyond the previous year’s total, private agencies charge tens of thousands of dollars in fees, and people who adopt get tax subsidies—while parents are left in poverty without their children.

Private adoption is not the “consensual choice” it is marketed to be. In truth, state-imposed poverty and racism puts a target on parents’ backs, making them vulnerable to the private adoption industry’s predatory and coercive tactics.

Adoption through the foster system depends on the state forcibly and permanently separating a child from their parent, often because of poverty and structural racism. This is one of the most violent powers the state can wield. Private adoption, too, requires permanent family separation.

Adoption is not a “good deed.” Adoption is not “radical family building.” Adoption is a multi-billion dollar industry and a tool of state violence. 🧵

Media doesn’t just reflect adoption culture. It creates it. #adopteesky

New Substack piece is live, the first in an 8 week series I’m writing ahead of the next season. It’s about the gap between the adoption story we’re given & the life we actually lived. If you want to follow the series, you can subscribe here: adopteescrossinglines.substack.com

“Best interests of the child” has never been neutral. It’s how the state disguises control as compassion. #adopteesky

I started a Substack. A place to go deeper, beyond the posts and the episodes. Essays and reflections connecting adoption, family policing, and the systems that shape our lives. The first post is live: adopteescrossinglines.substack.com #adopteesky

Every time the state says it’s “saving children,” someone is getting paid. Billions in federal dollars flow through the family policing system each year, not to keep families together, but to remove and rehome children. This isn’t protection. It’s profit. #adopteesky

Adoption doesn’t exist outside the family policing system—it depends on it. Behind every “forever family” headline is surveillance, removal, and profit from separation. #adopteesky

Adoption doesn’t “save” children, it rewards the state for separating them. Most removals happen because of poverty, not abuse. Families aren’t unsafe. They’re unsupported. When we resource families, we dismantle the family policing system, piece by piece. #adopteesky

NAAM isn’t about awareness, it’s a state sponsored marketing campaign. Every November, the family policing system rebrands family separation as “love.” It’s time to tell the truth: adoption isn’t liberation. Abolition is. #adopteesky

The scariest thing this Halloween? SNAP benefits are running out, 42 million Americans rely on them. Communities are feeding each other while the government does nothing. Hunger isn’t inevitable. It’s a policy choice. #adopteesky

Trump is breaking the law again and separating families. #adopteesky

*pretends to be shocked* #adopteesky

Since 2016, Arizona’s Department of Child Safety has paid out $30 million in settlements, most for wrongful child removals. These aren’t isolated incidents. They’re proof that the family policing system causes harm and then makes taxpayers pay for it. #adopteesky

In Laurel County, these new programs represent a shift — from surveillance to support, and from punishment to possibility. #adopteesky

MA Appeals Court weighs if DCF failed to make “reasonable efforts” before taking permanent custody. The outcome could redefine how reunification is handled. #adopteesky