By Rupinder K. Legha | New York Amsterdam News | Word In Black
(WIB) – Not long ago, during training on a child psychiatry consult-liaison service, I was asked to see a 5-year-old boy awaiting surgery for a congenital heart defect — surgery his parents were said to be “refusing.” The medical team was considering calling child welfare to report medical neglect, but when I sat down with the family, I didn’t see neglect; I saw parents asking questions.
“We’re not saying no,” the mother told me. “We just want to know why this has to happen now.” After receiving answers to their questions, validation of their concerns, and time to reflect, they consented. Their son recovered well. No report was filed.
The issue wasn’t noncompliance. It was communication. They needed clarity, not a report. The neglect was on our end, not theirs.
In my role as a psychiatrist, I’ve seen this happen too often. Families — especially Black, Indigenous, immigrant, and low-income ones — are often broken up not because of abuse, but because of poverty, trauma, or discrimination. A big part of this is mandated reporting: laws that make teachers, doctors, and social workers report suspected child abuse, even when it’s really about hunger, unstable housing, or grief.
Mandated reporting was designed to protect kids, but it’s become a tool of surveillance, pushing families into a system that prioritizes investigation over help. Research consistently shows that Black children are reported much more often than white kids for the same behaviors. Once in the system, families are scrutinized, separated, and scarred. Kids suffer from the trauma of removals, while parents face stigma and loss.
That’s why I believe in something different: mandated supporting, which is emerging as a cornerstone of a new movement, with Los Angeles County and other regions shifting from punitive systems to protective care. Instead of automatically calling a hotline, professionals would be required to connect families with what they actually need: safe housing, food, therapy, childcare, or someone to listen. Mandated supporting replaces distrust with trust, punishment with protection, and fear with care. It recognizes that most families don’t need to be watched; they need support.
This isn’t just an idea. The Movement for Family Power, an organization where I am proud to serve as an advisory board member, is making it happen through their THRIVE Fund.
The THRIVE Fund invests in families and communities that have been through the family regulation system. It provides resources for healing, leadership, and organizing so the parents and kids affected can help find solutions. Instead of putting more money into watching and separating families, the THRIVE Fund moves resources to where they belong: with families themselves.
The people closest to the problem often have the best solutions. Families who’ve experienced the trauma of unnecessary removals know what true safety looks like. They know it starts with money, mental health care, and community support. By supporting their leadership, we can change a system that treats poverty as neglect and trauma as defiance.
Mandated supporting and the THRIVE Fund share a common idea: Care is more powerful than control. The THRIVE Fund amplifies that approach on a larger scale. It helps families not just survive, but thrive — and this isn’t theoretical: A growing body of research from Casey Family Programs and others makes it clear that providing tangible supports like cash assistance, housing, food, and medical care does more than buffer hardship. It actively reduces the risk of abuse and neglect, prevents family separation, and improves child and family well‑being. Families themselves affirm the difference these supports make. As one recipient said, “THRIVE was able to help me keep my lights on while I was on an unpaid maternity leave from work.” Another said, “I was able to get new graphics for my social media that will help me share political education about the family policing system and reach more people.”
A lot is at stake. Right now, millions of kids in the U.S. are being investigated by child welfare, often because of poverty. Each investigation could lead to family separation. We can do better. We have to.
Supporting the THRIVE Fund is a way to start. You can help build power in communities that have suffered from family policing. They fund storytelling, healing, and organizing — things that help repair harm as well as prevent it — and they move us closer to a system that protects kids by strengthening families.
As professionals, advocates, and community members, we have a choice. We can stick with mandated reporting, which often punishes the vulnerable, or we can choose mandated supporting, which respects families. We can keep investing in control, or we can invest in the leadership of those who know a better way is possible.
I choose the second option. I hope you will, too.
The THRIVE Fund is a commitment to changing how we view family safety in America. Together, we can replace mandated reporting with mandated supporting. Together, we can help families not only survive but thrive.
Please visit movementforfamilypower.org and support the THRIVE Fund today. It’s an opportunity to build a future where support is the norm.
This post appeared first on New York Amsterdam News.