The upEND team recaps season one and shares their visions for a future without family policing.

We break down recurring myths about “child welfare,” discuss the abolitionist communities growing from spaces such as book clubs, and reflect on topics like the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA).

About Our Guests: 

Maya Pendleton has been a part of the upEND movement since its inception. She currently works as a researcher and writer for the upEND movement, focusing on how we abolish the family policing system, the harms of the current system to children, families and communities, and the world we will build post family policing. 

Alan Dettlaff is a professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work, where he also served as Dean from 2015 to 2022. Alan began his career as a social worker in the family policing system, where he worked as an investigative caseworker and administrator. Today his work focuses on ending the harm that results from this system. In 2020, he helped to create and launch the upEND Movement, a collaborative effort dedicated to abolishing the family policing system and building alternatives that focus on healing and liberation.

Episode Notes:

• Support the work of upEND: upendmovement.org/donate
• Read the episode transcript.
• Continue learning with additional resources in our syllabus: upendmovement.org/syllabus
• Alan Dettlaff and Dorothy Roberts were featured on CBS Sunday Morning in a national story on family policing abolition.
• Maya and Alan reference an article by Anna Arons called “An Unintended Abolition: Family Regulation During the COVID-19 Crisis.”
• Alan mentions the paper “Toward Thick Solidarity: Theorizing Empathy in Social Justice Movements” by Roseann Liu and Savannah Shange.
• The upEND team read “The School for Good Mothers” in a staff book club organized by Maya.
• Join Alan and connease’s book club, Toward Liberation.