Owning Your Story and Claiming Your Power: Talking about Domestic Violence and Child Protective Services – Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence (WSCADV)

Brightly colored illustration of a diverse group of people of different skin tones, ages, hairstyles, and dress. Everyone is smiling and they are standing with their arms around each other.

This guide came about through conversation between Ashley Albert, a survivor and activist, and Margaret Hobart, a longtime advocate for domestic violence (DV) survivors, and the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

We know that the child welfare system often fails DV survivors. And we know that important discussions about child welfare policies are taking place. Every healing or justice effort around family policing needs the voices of DV survivors. We are inspired by the survivors who have spoken over decades about abuse they have experienced, and their visions for their children and themselves, and their communities.

For survivors who want to share their stories, and the advocates supporting them, this guide provides inspiration and some things to think about before, during and after talking about experiences publicly.

“I know owning our stories can ignite healing, hope, and change.”
ASHLEY ALBERT

Illustration of a woman kneeling on the ground to hug a young girl. The woman is wearing a yellow dress with a pink design on it and the girl is wearing a red dress with yellow flowers on the sleeve. They both have black hair and medium-deep skin tones.

To read and download the full illustrated guide, click below. Continue scrolling for additional resources.

Download the guide (PDF)

Companion resources

Impacts of the child welfare system

There’s No One I Can Trust: The Impact of Mandatory Reporting on the Help Seeking and Well Being of Domestic Violence Survivors, Caroline Lippy, Connie Burk, and Margaret Hobart with the National LGBTQ DV Capacity Building Learning Center, 2020
Taken into foster care, through the eyes of a child, Kansas City Star, 2020
Trauma Caused by Separation of Children from Parents, American Bar Association, 2019: A resource for attorneys on the impacts of separating children from parents at the border or by child welfare agencies.
Partnered with a Survivor: a podcast from the Safe & Together Institute

Structural racism in the child welfare system

Dorothy Roberts talking about her book, Torn Apart: How the Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families, Author Events, 2022
I Have Studied Child Protective Services for Decades. It Needs to Be Abolished., Dorothy Roberts for Mother Jones, 2022
Entangled Roots: The Role of Race in Policies that Separate Families, Elisa Minoff for the Center for the Study of Social Policy, 2018
Fighting Institutional Racism at the Front End of Child Welfare Systems: A Call To Action To End The Unjust, Unnecessary, And Disproportionate Removal Of Black Children From Their Families, Children’s Rights, 2021
Racial Disproportionality and Disparities in the Child Welfare System: Why Do They Exist, and What Can Be Done to Address Them? Alan J. Dettlaff and Reiko Boyd in The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 692(1), 2020
Economic and Concrete Supports for Families, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, 2021
A Key Connection: Economic Stability and Family Well-being – Addressing economic hardship as a factor in child welfare involvement, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, 2022

Healing from trauma

NowMattersNow.org offers coping strategies for when problems feel unsolvable and feelings feel too big
Grounding Techniques for PTSD, The Traumatic Stress Clinic
The Psychology of PTSD, TED-Ed
How to Overcome Trauma, The School of Life

Advocacy best practices

Alternatives to Calling DCFS, Jane Addams School of Social Work at UIC, 2020
Know Your Rights When CPS Comes Knocking
Social Worker’s Practice Guide to Domestic Violence
Responding to Information Requests from DCYF

Movement building

Collective Justice
UpEnd
Movement For Family Power
‘Abolition Is the Only Answer’: A Conversation with Dorothy Roberts, Rise Magazine, 2020
Repeal AFSA

Storytelling for social change

Storytelling and Social Change: A Strategy Guide, Narrative Arts
Your Story Matters, Josefina Lopez at TEDxBoyleHeights, 2014
The Moth, Radio Hour
WA SPEAKS: Whether you’re interested in becoming a speaker or hosting a speaker, you are helping to spread the word that people can and do recover.
The Power of Vulnerability, Brené Brown for the 2011 TED Conference

Children and youth impacted by domestic violence

Coercive Control in the Children’s and Mother’s Lives, Emma Katz, Oxford University Press, 2022
little eyes, little ears: how violence against a mother shapes children as they grow, Alison Cunningham & Linda Baker, Centre for Children and Families in the Justice System, 2007
The Amazing Brain: Trauma and the Potential for Healing, Dr. Linda Chamberlain: Booklets about early and adolescent brain development, trauma, and what parents and caregivers can do to promote healthy brain development
ChildMind Institute’s video series on essential coping skills for grade school, middle school, and high school students

Guide Illustrations by Mousy DeVilla