Reimagining the System with Public Knowledge

A new book “Families Belong Together,” was released by Public Knowledge to help elevate and honor the voices of individuals with lived experience and make the case for reimagining our child welfare system. Stacey Moss, Public Knowledge President and CEO, and Will Hornsby, Senior Vice President of Delivery, talk with Angela about the group’s idea to “replace” the current system with a community-oriented, strengths-focused approach that matches the social, economic, racial, ethnic, and religious realities of each community. The book features stories of families who navigated the system, and serves as a call to action. Stacey, Will, and Angela talk about whether to keep tinkering with improvements on the current system or construct something new and different.

As always, there are tips on how children’s attorneys can make an impact.

• Get the full picture. Getting comprehensive information will help get the “right diagnosis” and better tailored solutions.
• Talk to your client. Every family has strengths that can serve as natural supports and mitigate risks.
• Get creative. Advocate for what works for the family, instead of defaulting to what is best for the people that do this work every day.
• Focus on what brought the child into the system to hone in on what is necessary to get the family out.

Stacey says it feels like we’re in a fight between safety and permanency – at the expense of focusing on well-being of children and families. Public Knowledge wants to change that. Their powerful book is filled with concrete ideas and stories that can be used for training and to facilitate conversations about how the system can be better. The content of the book is available on the website for free and is being sold on Amazon. Here is the link to the book:
https://go.pubknow.com/families-belong-together-book

Public Knowledge also has a podcast and we invite you to listen in. Click the link to access the Igniting Impact Podcast: https://pubknow.com/media-center/podcast/