“Parents who use drugs, we're at the bottom of the totem pole.”

We explore what real safety looks like for families when a parent uses substances. Stigma, shame, and anti-Blackness shape the way families are treated by the family policing system, but community centered care can save lives and families.

Together, we imagine a world where families impacted by substance use are met with compassion, resources, and community support rather than punishment and surveillance.

About Our Guest:

Dinah Ortiz has been working on behalf of people who use drugs and pregnant and parenting people for over two decades. She has spent much of that time at a Well renowned holistic public defense organization as a parent advocate, supervisor, trainer for incoming Attorneys pre bar, Social workers and as an internal thought leader on harm reduction. She serves as a board member for the North Carolina Survivors Union (NCSU) and is a current member of the leadership team for the National Survivors’ Union (NSU). She has sat on advisory boards for work supporting federal rural overdose response grantees, and currently for the Albert Einstein College of Medicine IMPOWR-me project as a board member. Coming out of direct parent representation for over a decade Dinah slowly came to understand there was something missing in the representation of marginalized parents who use drugs (our voice.) She has appeared on hundreds of panels globally sharing the challenges created by the child regulation system and its disproportionate targeting of marginalized communities and communities of color. She helped adapt and develop a storytelling model for people who use drugs—helping people work through their own experiences so there is space for reflection where stigma has been internalized, as well as equipping people to share their stories to disrupt larger narratives.

Episode Notes:

• Support the work of upEND: upendmovement.org/donate

• Episode Transcript: upendmovement.org/podcast/episode304/

• Read “Reclaiming Safety for Children Whose Parents Use Substances” by Kassandra Frederique, Dinah Ortiz, and Mark Z.

• Dinah mentions a segment about moms using marijuana on the Tyra Banks show.

• Learn more about the North Carolina Survivor’s Union and the National Survivor’s Union.

• Dinah mentions Movement for Family Power’s Movement Map.

If we abolish the family policing system, how do we respond to child sexual abuse? Abolition helps us create a world where all children are safe and supported by their communities. We’re addressing the problem, not just sweeping it under the rug.

We speak with award-winning journalist and author Roxanna Asgarian about her essay “Reclaiming Safety for Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse.” Roxanna explores how the current carceral response to child sexual harm—rooted in punishment, separation, and shame—fails survivors and perpetuates cycles of trauma.

Together, we discuss what safety and accountability can look like outside of prisons, foster care, and family policing. Drawing from her reporting and lived experience, Roxanna invites us to imagine community-based pathways to healing that honor survivors, hold those who harm accountable, and build the conditions where safety is possible for everyone.

About Our Guest:

Roxanna Asgarian is a Texas-based journalist and the author of We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America, which won the 2023 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, and the L.A. Times Book Prize. Her reporting has appeared in The Washington Post, Texas Monthly, and New York Magazine. A survivor of child sexual harm, Roxanna has spent years covering stories at the intersections of child welfare, justice, and community care—centering the voices of those most impacted by family separation and systemic neglect.

Episode Notes:

• Support the work of upEND: upendmovement.org/donate

• Episode Transcript: upendmovement.org/podcast/episode303/

• Read “Reclaiming Safety for Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse” by Roxanna Agarian.

• Connect with Roxanna’s work at RoxannaAsgarianWrites.com and read her award-winning book, We Were Once a Family.

• Roxanna discusses Hidden Water Healing Circles and Freedom Community Center.

• Explore the Reclaiming Safety series: upendmovement.org/safety

  
  

Credits:

• Hosted by Josie Pickens and Jaison Oliver

• Produced by Sydnie Dan’el Mares

• Mixed by Imani Crosby

The family policing system considers parents with mental health issues and other disabilities to be an inherent threat to their children. We reject that premise.

Because of ableism, the legacy of eugenics, and the violence of poverty, disabled parents face a high risk of separation by the family policing system.

In this episode, Dr. Robyn Powell discusses how the child welfare system weaponizes the idea of “predictive neglect” to discriminate against parents with disabilities and further enshrine stigma around mental health.

How can we build a future where disabled families are supported through care, community, and trust—not surveillance and punishment?

Reclaiming Safety is upEND’s exploration of frequently asked questions about family policing abolition. This discussion about disability justice is an accompaniment to the essay Reclaiming Safety for Children of Parents with Disabilities by Charisa Smith.

About Our Guest:

Dr. Robyn Powell is an Assistant Professor of Law at Stetson University College of Law and a Senior Research Associate at the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy at Brandeis University. Her work focuses on disability law, reproductive justice, family regulation, and constitutional law, with a special emphasis on the rights of disabled parents and the abolition of the family policing system.

She is the principal author of the National Council on Disability’s landmark report Rocking the Cradle, Ensuring the Rights of Parents with Disabilities and Their Children, and her scholarship—featured in leading law reviews and interdisciplinary journals—examines how law and policy continue to reinforce ableism and the legacy of eugenics.

Episode Notes:

• Support the work of upEND: upendmovement.org/donate

• Episode Transcript: upendmovement.org/podcast/episode301/

• Read Reclaiming Safety: upendmovement.org/safety

• Dr. Powell recommends people learn more about disability justice through Sins Invalid and the Disability Visibility Project.

• Connect with Dr. Powell at Stetson Law.

  
  

Credits:

• Hosted by Josie Pickens and Jaison Oliver

• Produced by Sydnie Mares

• Mixed by Imani Crosby