Introduction

I have written two books about the child welfare system, which were published 21 years apart. The first book, Shattered Bonds: The Color of Child Welfare (2001), argued that the stunningly disproportionate entanglement of Black families in the system contributed to the racist subordination of Black people (Roberts, 2001). In Shattered Bonds, I stated that we should ‘finally abolish’ America's destructive child welfare system. The second book, Torn Apart: How the Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families – And How Abolition Can Build a Safer World (2022), renews a call for abolition, and argues to completely replace the family policing system with a reimagined way of caring for families and keeping children safe (Roberts, 2022).

Three things happened after the publication of Shattered Bonds that strengthened my commitment to abolishing the family policing system:

• 1. I participated in numerous reform efforts to reduce the system's racialdisparities, population size and harm, none of which rendered a significantblow to the system's fundamental design;

• 2. I learned more about the theorising and activism of the prison abolitionmovement that expanded over the last two decades; and

• 3. I engaged with parents who experienced family policing, and wasinspired by their work to dismantle the system that disrupted theirfamilies (Davis, 2005; Kaba and Ritchie, 2022; Just Making a Changefor Families, 2023; Movement for Family Power, 2023; Rise Magazine,2023; UpEND, 2023).