Jezebel: How the Child Welfare System Criminalizes Black and Brown Motherhood

“When we listen to reporting in the media that tends to be pro-removal of children, parents are bad, black mothers are bad…you’re reading that more than you think. Pay attention and listen to it, and recognize the historical origins of that in this country. The quickness with which white women have told black and brown women that this is how you parent.”

In this panel discussion co-hosted by Jezebel and The Wing, Supervising Family Defense attorney Mary Anne Mendenhall urges greater understanding about how the child welfare system criminalizes poverty and motherhood for communities of color, and how broader narratives around the system and those impacted by it must change.

Watch the discussion and read the recap here.