Racism in Child Welfare: An Elie Hirschfeld Symposium
Earlier this year, the inaugural Elie Hirschfeld Symposium on children’s welfare brought was hosted by NYU. Co-sponsored by NYU’s Family Defense Clinic and the Review of Law and Social Change, the event brought together distinguished panelists – leading experts on family law, public interest, and race – for conversation around the issue of racial injustice in the children’s welfare system. Panelists ultimately issued a harsh critique of the current child welfare system, and calling for its abolition, rather than reform. Moderated by Chris Gottleib, discussion argued that the very foundation of the system’s design is based in injustice towards children and their families. Panelists included Professors Khiara Bridges, associate dean for Equity, Justice, and Engagement at Boston University School of Law and author of Reproducing Race ; Dorothy Roberts, University of Pennsylvania’s Founding Director of the Program on Race, Science, and Society; and Peggy Cooper Davis of NYU Law, fo