Evaluating Reformist Reforms vs. Abolitionist Steps

This resource is created by the UpEnd Movement.

The questions in this document provide a guide to analyze whether proposed reforms to family policing further entrench the family policing system or move us closer to abolition of family policing. The questions we ask are a reflection of the world we want to build—one without family policing and one where children are safer.

We seek to: end the reach of the family policing system; end the prospect of harm caused by family policing; take away the power of the family policing system; and diminish the legitimacy of the family policing system, while also seeking to affirm child, family, and community autonomy; promote healing for children, families, and communities; increase access to direct supports; and create a society where the need for a family policing system is obsolete.

This framework is adapted from the work of Critical Resistance, who developed a framework for evaluating proposed reforms to policing. While the child welfare system is not always included in larger conversations about police and prison abolition, we understand family policing to be a key component of the carceral state. The reforms in this guide are not as well-known as some of the major reforms to policing; yet just as reforms to policing fatally misunderstand the problem of policing, so do many of the major proposed reforms to child welfare.