Over the past three years, Emancipate NC has become a statewide leader in advocacy around the family policing system and Child Protective Services (CPS). In 2022, Elizabeth Simpson and J Hallen authored a report urging county-level reforms to the Durham Department of Social Services to reduce involuntary family separation and keep families safe and thriving together The Durham County Safety and Wellness Task Force worked from this report to release a set of recommendations for DSS and the courthouse in 2023. Toia Potts served as a justice-impacted member of the Task Force and introduced the recommendations to the Task Force as a whole. In 2023, Emancipate NC co-sponsored a national conference on family policing with the three area law schools. Since then, we’ve helped convene a coalition group that meets monthly with People’s Alliance and Operation Stop CPS.
We’ve seen real progress from the County of Durham, which hired a new Director of DSS last year, and declared 2024 to be the Year of Reunification. In September 2024, 12 kids went home to families and 0 kids entered foster care. This is a huge change from a few years earlier.
Now, we announce our newest project: Carolina Parent Defenders. Emancipate NC has hired Kaushiki Chowdhury, a long-time criminal and parent defender to lead this effort. Elizabeth Simpson and Toia Potts serve as the founding Board of Directors. Like our investigator, Margaux Lander, Kaushiki comes to us from Still She Rises, a holistic defense organization for women in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Carolina Parent Defenders (CPD) will also be a holistic defense practice, providing strategic, client-centered, and zealous legal representation to parents facing involuntary family separation.
In October, CPD held its first community listening and co-design session to dream about what strong parent representation should look like in Durham County. Community members, impacted parents, elected officials, and mandatory reporters all came together to provide feedback and insight into the project. CPD will launch in 2025.