The Harm of Child Removal

This article was written by Shanta Trivedi of University of Baltimore Law and published in the New York University Review of Law & Social Change.

“When the state proves or even merely alleges that a parent has abused or neglected a child, family courts may remove the child from the parent’s care. However, research shows separating a child from her parent(s) has detrimental, long-term emotional and psychological consequences that may be worse than leaving the child at home. This is due to the trauma of removal itself, as well as the unstable nature of, and high rates of abuse in, [the foster system]. Nevertheless, the child welfare system errs on the side of removal and almost uniformly fails to consider the harms associated with that removal.

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This article is the first to comprehensively examine why the harm of removal should be a featured part of every child welfare decision. After doing so, it continues to analyze existing law and legal practices to demonstrate how consideration of the harms of removal can be built into existing legal frameworks to achieve the stated purpose of the child welfare system and truly protect our children.”