Author ORCID Identifier
Degree Year
2020
Document Type
Thesis - Open Access
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Comparative American Studies
Advisor(s)
KJ Cerankowski
Committee Member(s)
Erica R. Meiners
Harrod J. Suarez
Keywords
Child welfare, Family regulation, Carceral, Abolition, Police, Policing, Prison abolition, Abolitionist, Surveillance, Social services
Abstract
Drawing on the wisdom of prison abolitionists past and present, as well as evidence from interviews and analysis of Illinois’ Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) procedural documents, this work argues that Illinois’ DCFS and the child protection system more broadly are an extension of the carceral state. Both the criminal punishment system and the child protection system (henceforth referred to as the family regulation system) use a diffuse network of actors to surveil, regulate, and punish the behavior of queer subjects: impoverished people and people of color. The present-day family regulation system builds on a long history of family regulation that predates the founding of the U.S., as is seen in chattel slavery, the cultural genocide of Native Americans, neoliberal and anti-welfare policy regimes, and continues today at the U.S.-Mexico border and in the formalized family regulation system (child protective services). This work explores how to keep children safe in the age of abolition, focusing on non-carceral responses that center strong, accountable communities and divest from dependence on the state.
Repository Citation
Williams, Emma Peyton, "Dreaming of Abolitionist Futures, Reconceptualizing Child Welfare: Keeping Kids Safe in the Age of Abolition" (2020). Honors Papers. 712.
https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/honors/712
