By Leonard Burton, 2/26/24, https://positiveexperience.org/blog/
The HOPE National Resource Center proudly partners with the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) to advance health and well-being for children, families, and communities. We welcome Leonard Burton, President of CSSP, as our keynote speaker at the Fourth Annual HOPE Summit – The HOPE Transformation. He will present The Promises of HOPE: Building a World that Centers the Positive on Wednesday, March 20 from 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM ET.
Below Burton shares CSSP’s work on anti-racism practices in policy settings to lessen barriers to positive childhood experiences through trusting and supporting parents.
Uplifting the strengths of parents and caregivers
Behind every child who is growing and thriving, and behind every community that is strong and flourishing, are parents and caregivers whose love and devotion and unceasing work make this all possible. But too often policymakers have pathologized parents—suggesting something is wrong with them and that they are not deserving or capable of caring for their children without surveillance and outside intervention. This well-worn narrative is rooted in long history of anti-Black racism, going back to slavery, and has produced public policies and systems that do not effectively support families and actively cause them harm.
This is why at the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) we take an anti-racist approach to our work. CSSP believes that in order to create a society in which all children, youth, and families have what they need to pursue their goals and thrive, we need to redress how racism has shaped policy and systems—historically and through to the present—to systematically disadvantage people based on their race and other intersecting identities, including sexual orientation and gender identity, ability, immigration status, and caregiving status.
Developing policies that trust and support parents and caregivers
While dismantling racist policies and systems we also need to work with parents and caregivers to develop policies that are responsive to their needs, as they see them and express them, and ensure that every family can be together, have opportunities for good health, and afford the necessities and pursue their goals.
In CSSP’s work over the last several years, we have seen how transformative it can be when policymakers place their trust in parents and caregivers and give them the freedom and resources to make meaningful choices about how to raise their children.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw the role of intrusive and controlling systems like child protective services shrink, as mandated reporters were no longer routinely surveilling families and fewer children were placed in foster care. Meanwhile children remained safe. We didn’t see an increase in hospitalizations, substantiated abuse, or any other risk metric.
[Click here to read the full blog post.]
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