Reclaiming Safety For Parents of Children With Disabilities

This paper was created by upEND Movement and Charisa Smith.

In this paper, Charisa Smith uses an abolitionist framework to confront questions about safety and well-being for children of parents living with disabilities.

Using hypothetical scenarios based on real life situations (and modified for privacy reasons) to examine abolitionist interventions in practice as key steps forward, Charisa Smith highlights strength-based, individualized, and supportive strategies that can help secure children’s safety while respecting family integrity and autonomy, and maintaining, strengthening, and empowering authentic relational connections and responsive collective care.