This Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the National Center to Advance Peace is shining a light on how Failure to Protect laws harm the very survivors they were meant to help. Survivors and their children should never be punished for the violence they’ve endured. By elevating this resource, we aim to deepen understanding of how these laws are applied and inspire collective action toward systems that truly protect, support, and empower survivors and their children.
Survivors of domestic violence often face impossible choices like navigating harm in their homes while also trying to protect their children, all under the scrutiny of systems that do not always understand their realities. One of the most harmful and misunderstood ways the child welfare and criminal legal systems respond to survivors is through the use of failure to protect laws and policies.
This brief was developed to support survivors, advocates, and allied professionals in understanding how failure to protect laws are being applied, and misapplied, across the country. It explains how vague legal definitions and punitive policies result in child removals, criminal charges, and the termination of parental rights for survivors who are doing their best to stay safe. It also outlines critical opportunities to shift these systems away from punishment and toward protection, support, and justice.
Join us on Tuesday, October 28th for our webinar, I Believe You: Supporting Families Impacted by Failure to Protect.
Registration link: https://caminarlatino-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/qi3L-o1ZTvKchgDvaxLaHA#/registration