OUR Voice
A Together with Families Blog
Families impacted by the child welfare system and those working with them are raising their voices here.
On our blog, parents, relatives, children, and the people work with them tell their stories of love, struggle, and the fight to prevent foster care.
I Thought I Was Volunteering. I Left Seeing My Community Differently.
By Harper Wise
… This experience has opened my eyes to struggles happening in our own community. Families are living in their cars, moving in and out of hotels or staying in homeless shelters. People you interact with every day may be experiencing homelessness or food insecurity without you ever knowing.
Open Letter: Georgia, This Federal Civil Rights Lawsuit Is Our Chance to Make It Right
She opened the letter as her heart raced. Another bill. Another reminder that her children were gone. This one demanded over $16,000 in back “child support” — for the five children ripped from her arms and shuffled from placement to placement in foster care, one already aged out and lost to time. Children she would never tuck into bed again. Children whose childhoods were stolen because their mother was poor and homeless. And at the bottom of the page, the words that shattered her all over again: if she didn’t pay, she could go to jail.
A Sister’s Story from Within the Child Welfare System
I never imagined I would have to fight so hard just to be a sister. Since day one, I have been there for my siblings. I have cared for them, protected them, loved them, and stood by their side through life’s ups and downs. But when the child welfare system stepped in, everything changed. What was supposed to be a system that helps families has instead pulled mine apart and left me with wounds that still haven’t healed.