Reclaiming Safety for Domestic Violence Survivors and Their Kids

This resource was created by upEND Movement and written by Ashley Albert, Josie Pickens, and Sydnie Dan’el Mares.

The way we address domestic violence when children are involved doesn’t help survivors or protect their kids. Right now, the prevailing child protective services (CPS) system approach is to accuse survivors of harming their children, citing “failure to protect” laws, even when the children haven’t been harmed directly. Many have their kids stolen by the foster system, and many may never be reunited.  

This essay in the Reclaiming Safety series was informed by Ashley Albert, based on conversations between her and the upEND Team. Ashley’s lived experience as a survivor of the family policing system, a survivor of domestic violence, and a mother whose children were stolen by the family policing system deeply informed the strategies for prevention, intervention, and healing listed at the end of this essay.