During our development period, we have been working with and had the opportunity to interview:
DOROTHY ROBERTS
An internationally acclaimed scholar, activist, and social critic, Dorothy has written and lectured extensively on the interplay of gender, race, and class in legal issues concerning reproduction, bioethics, and child welfare. Dorothy is also the author of, TORN APART is about how the child welfare system destroys black families and how abolition can build a safer world.
Dorothy Roberts is the 14th Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor, the George A. Weiss University Professor of Law & Sociology, and the Raymond Pace & Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Professor of Civil Rights at University of Pennsylvania. She is a 2024 MacArthur “Genius” Fellow.
For more about Dorothy Roberts, visit: https://www.dorothyeroberts.com/
JOYCE MCMILLAN
Joyce McMillan is a thought leader, advocate, community organizer, educator, and the Founder and Executive Director of Just Making A Change for Families (JMACforFamilies).
As the Founder of the Parent Legislative Action Network, Joyce leads a statewide coalition of impacted parents and young people, advocates, attorneys, social workers, and academics collaborating to effect systemic change in the family policing system. Joyce also currently serves on the board of the Women’s Prison Association and on the Advisory Committee for the Center for New York City Affairs at The New School, where she holds a visiting fellowship.
For more about Joyce McMillan’s work, visit: https://jmacforfamilies.org/
RICHARD WEXLER
Richard Wexler is Executive Director of National Coalition For Child Protection Reform and is the the author of Wounded Innocents: The Real Victims of the War Against Child Abuse (Prometheus Books: 1990, 1995). Wexler has testified before Congress and State Legislatures, advised the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Children and Families in its 1995 rewrite of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, and served on the Philadelphia City Council Special Committee on Child Separations.
For more about Richard Wexler’s work, visit: https://nccpr.org/
ALAN DETTLAFF
Alan began his career in the child welfare/family policing system, where he worked as a caseworker and administrator. Today his work focuses on ending the harm that results from this system. In 2020, he helped to create and launch the upEND movement, a collaborative effort dedicated to abolishing the family policing system and building alternatives that focus on healing and liberation. He is a professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work.
For more about Alan Dettlaff’s work, visit: https://alandettlaff.com/
MATT ANDERSON
After 11 years as a nonprofit executive responsible for the largest foster care program in North Carolina, Matt Anderson quit – realizing his values weren’t aligned with his work and had to stop contributing to and benefiting from a system that he believes harms and oppresses people.
In 2024, he co-founded Imagination Factory whose mission is to equip and catalyze creative disruptors to drive innovation to keep families together and eliminate systemic harm. He serves as the CEO of Imagination Factory, where their programming is building an ecosystem for innovation so we can imagine and create a more just future for families.
For more about Matt Anderson’s work, visit: https://www.imgnfactory.org/
ORGANIZATIONS
upEND
upEND’s mission is to advance the abolition of the family policing system by providing political education and resources that equip organizers, bridge gaps between liberation movements, and promote abolitionist approaches to serving families and communities.
For more information, visit: https://upendmovement.org/
Imagination Factory
We exist to help individuals and organizations unlock their creative capacity and close the gap between their ideas and their impact.
For more information, visit: https://www.imgnfactory.org/
National Coalition For Child Protection Reform
We are committed to seeking comprehensive change in the child protective system. We do not seek this change because the system hurts parents. We seek this change because the system hurts children. Our hope is to turn the public monologue about child abuse into a dialogue.
For more information, visit: https://nccpr.org/
Just Making A Change for Families
Just Making A Change for Families is a non-profit organization working to dismantle the family policing system while simultaneously investing in community support that keeps families together.
For more information, visit: https://jmacforfamilies.org/