When You Have to Be Your Own Advocate
While parent advocacy is expanding around the world and efforts are being made to strengthen legal representation for parents facing child welfare proceedings, far too many parents are still unable to receive real, individualized help and legal protection during child protective investigations or when their children have been removed from them. Because of this, some parents have no choice but to educate themselves on the child welfare process.
Mary Burton, co-founder of Fearless R2W, a parent advocacy organization in Manitoba, Canada, was once one of those parents. Below, is an interview with Burton, who shares her knowledge on what it’s like to self-educate and self-advocate.
In this section of the platform, you can also find links from various states and countries that can help you learn more about your rights and the rules and regulations of this system.
Q: How did you teach yourself about the child welfare system and why was it important to you?
A: I started to read child welfare legislation, because the Child and Family Services Act is what governs child welfare in Manitoba. I was a child in care and I aged out of care, so I had a little bit of knowledge regarding the Child Family Services Act. But when the system came into my life when I was a parent, I wanted to know more. At the time, the only way to learn was to read the legislation and to understand it.
Q: How did you know how to start or where to find the information you needed?
A: I didn’t know how to start. That’s why I started with legislation. It helped me to see where a good starting point would be. When I started learning about child welfare, I had to go to the library to find the information I needed. (LOL. I aged myself.) Today it is so much easier. You just need a computer and Google and to know what you’re looking for.
I didn’t have anyone who could help me when I didn’t understand something or when I was overwhelmed so I would put whatever I didn’t understand aside and take a break, I started keeping a dictionary and thesaurus beside me when I was reading legislation so I could look up what I didn’t understand. It was a game changer once I knew what I was reading and was able to understand what was being said.
Q: How did you use your knowledge to fight for your family?
A: Because I knew the legislation, I was able to put that knowledge to use in my dealings with Child and Family Services. I was able to fight in a good way, letting people know that I knew what my rights were and what was expected of them, and not beating around the bush if that makes sense.
For parents facing a child protective investigation or with a child welfare case who don’t have anyone in their community who can advocate for them, I would say know your rights. Read all that you can get your hands on regarding child welfare legislation. Learn the language of the agency and use it when dealing with that agency.Understand that the language that the agency uses is to confuse you. They have university degrees, and are following policy and procedures meant to keep you down. Read and learn all you can about child welfare legislation. Make sure you understand it and use it when dealing with the agencies. People are afraid of what they don’t know or understand. Knowledge takes away the fear.Knowledge is power.
Resources for Self-Education and Self-Advocacy
Below are links to websites and other resources that can help you learn more about surviving a child protective investigation or a child welfare case. While many of these resources are location-specific, a lot of information in them is also relevant to facing the system wherever you are.
This page of IPAN’s Toolkit for Transformation has links to some location-specific handbooks that explain what parents need to know to understand the child welfare system.
In Australia, several of the Family Inclusion Network branches provide excellent information to support parents in learning about the system.
http://www.fin-qldtsv.org.au/infokitcvr.html
http://www.fin-qldtsv.org.au/child-protection-parents-kit.pdf
Rise magazine has over a decade of stories from parents about how they managed their child welfare cases, as well as interviews with lawyers and other professionals that provide parents with advice and inside knowledge. Below are links to all of Rise’s past issues as well as Rise’s TIPS handouts, which offer advice from parents for parents on specific topics, including visiting, creating a service plan and visiting during Covid.
This website by a parent in the United Kingdom provides extensive information about navigating England’s safeguarding system as well as the website creator’s personal experience with the system.
http://survivingsafeguarding.co.uk/
This website created by Brooklyn Defender Services provides parents information for how to manage an investigation.
This website co-created by parents who grew up in foster care and professionals working in the field in New York City provides information on young parents’ rights while they’re in the system but also provides information about how to keep families safe from child protective services that is relevant to all parents.