In partnership with The Bronx Defenders, Movement for Family Power, NYCLU, Brooklyn Defender Services, Elephant Circle, and Ancient Song Doula Services, Pregnancy Justice held two teach-ins covering the history of the family regulation system and its relationship to the war on drugs, CAPTA/CARA, and the NYC Commission on Human Rights' investigation into three hospital systems' drug testing policies and practices.
Many hospitals have assumed that CAPTA (Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act) – a federal funding provision – requires them to report all substance-exposed newborns to child welfare agencies. This is incorrect and contributes to the overreporting of families of color into the family regulation system, which is rooted in this country's long history of racist control over the reproduction of Black, Latinx, and Indigenous families: https://www.pregnancyjusticeus.org/...