It’s time to end state kidnapping of children.

From orphan trains, to chattel slavery, to the genocide of Indigenous people, family separation has long been wielded as a weapon to control, punish, and disappear Black, immigrant, and Indigenous children. This violent history continues today, as millions of children are stolen from their families by the family policing, adoption, youth incarceration, and ICE detention and deportation systems.

For generations, the stories of stolen children have been erased from dominant narratives. The United States systematically and willfully ignores the life-long trauma of children torn from their homes and the deep, unhealed grief of parents forced to live without their children.

Meanwhile, the very systems that tear our families apart are celebrated. Each year, the United States celebrates holidays like National Adoption Month which romanticize, whitewash, and normalize the destruction of families.

This Month Honors…

• Children stolen by the foster system, adoption, youth incarceration, and ICE.
• Parents fighting to find, reunify, and heal with their stolen children.
• Black families separated by chattel slavery and modern systems of criminalization.
• Indigenous families separated by family policing, boarding schools, and genocide.
• Immigrant families separated by ICE detention, deportation, and borders.
• Families separated by institutionalization in supposed “care” and “treatment” facilities.

 

We, stolen children and our families, must reclaim our narrative.

Stolen Children’s Month is a time to uplift the voices of stolen children and their families, and to demand action towards abolishing family policing, youth incarceration, and immigrant detention and deportation. 

 

Steering Committee

• Ashley Albert (Intuned Consulting, Founder of Stolen Children’s Month) 
• Josie Pickens (upEND Movement)
• Amanda Wallace (Operation Stop CPS)
• Maya Pendleton (upEND Movement)
• Benjamin Lundberg Torres Sánchez (We Are Holding This, Reproductive Justice in Adoption) 
• Zaira Campos (Adoptees Crossing Lines)
• Tanesha Grant (Parents Supporting Parents NY)
• Tamara Robertson (Movement for Family Power) 

 

Learn more at stolenchildrensmonth.com