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Recent Posts
Black History Month: More Than Commemoration—A Blueprint for Liberation
February 12, 2025
Throughout history, Black people have resisted not only through direct action against oppressive forces but also by creating systems of care that ensured collective survival.
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Prize Winners Named for “Dream, Create, Liberate” Afrofuturist Art Publication
We are thrilled to announce the winners of our Dream, Create, Liberate: A Future Without Family Policing call for submissions.
Letter to the Editor: Foster Care Cannot Provide True Safety for Children
As part of the growing movement to end the separation of children from their families, we were disappointed to read the article “What Happens When Abusive Parents Keep their Children” in the opinion section of the New York Times.
Family Policing Doesn’t Prevent Child Abuse, Abolition Can
While the family policing system also purports to prevent child abuse, abolition seeks to prevent harm before it occurs in the first place.
Upending The Racialized Family Ideal
Child welfare policies reward those who uphold the American “family ideal” and police, punish, and profit from those who don’t meet it.
California Supreme Court Strikes “Tender Years Doctrine”
This decision will reduce California’s ability to forcibly separate families.
Deadline Extended for Afrofuturist Art Submissions
The deadline for art, poetry, and short fiction submissions has been extended to January 31, 2024.
upEND Featured In
Confronting the Racist Legacy of the Child Welfare System with Alan Dettlaff
Adoptees Crossing Lines Podcast
News Archive
Fostering tragedy: Experts say system designed to protect children can break up families, CBS Sunday Morning, December 4, 2022
No More Carseats, How Is That Legal? Podcast, July 6, 2022
“It’s Like A Leech On Me”: Child Abuse Registries Punish Unsuspecting Parents Of Color, Buzzfeed News, April 27, 2022
What Did Child Welfare Learn From 2020?, Child Information Gateway Podcast, January 15, 2021,
New upEND Publication Calls for Fundamental Transformation of Family Policing, July 27, 2021
CPS disproportionately takes custody of Black children, report says, July 26, 2021
Being with Family Is a Human Right: We Can’t and Won’t Deny It, A Second Chance, Inc., December 14, 2020
What It Means to Abolish Child Welfare As We Know It, the Imprint, October 24, 2020
Reimagining Child Welfare Services: A Call to UpEND Child Welfare as We Know It, Children’s Bureau Express, August/September 2020
University of Houston Launches upEND Movement (VIDEO), Fox 26 Houston, July 15, 2020
Now Is the Time for Abolition, the Imprint, June 22, 2020
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