Taleed El-Sabawi (Georgetown University Institute for Health Law) and Sarah Katz (Temple University School of Law) have recently posted to SSRN their paper, Deinstitutionalizing Family Separation in Cases of Parental Drug Use. Here is the abstract:
Family separation has long served as a mechanism of social control and punishment in the United States, disproportionately targeting Black, Indigenous, and other marginalized families under the guise of child welfare. Family separation remains the family policing system’s primary intervention in families, including families targeted because one parent is using substances. Recent legislation, such as the Families First Prevention Services Act, aims to reduce family separation by funding preventive services. However, the punitive approach entrenched in the family policing system remains resistant to reform. This Essay argues that the family policing system, steeped in a legacy of racialized control and punitive policies, fundamentally obstructs efforts to prioritize family preservation over child removal in cases of parental drug use.
Through an institutional theory lens, this Essay examines how the family policing system’s historical emphasis on punishment and surveillance resists even well-intentioned legislative changes. Despite the inclusion of family-centered services in recent legislation addressing the opioid crisis, implementation barriers and institutional inertia within family policing agencies perpetuate default practices of policing and removal.
This Essay argues for a fundamental reimagining of family support systems that divests from punitive family policing frameworks and centers on family preservation.