Inside Philly’s hidden foster care system, where parents ‘voluntarily’ give up their children Philadelphia’s Dept of Human Services often removes children from their families under so-called “voluntary safety plans.” Prof. Sarah Katz warns they are anything but voluntary. “Legally, these voluntary safety plans are a much greater concern, because they can go on indefinitely, the parents are often not made aware of their rights, and the government takes as much control of the child as they would if they had them in their custody. It’s essentially a total denial of parental rights.”

A high profile custody battle in Utah spotlights a theory called “parental alienation,” which Prof. Sarah Katz says often follows claims of abuse “when the real issue is that the court is discounting those allegations.” Read More

Prof. Sarah Katz’s scholarship on trauma-informed lawyering is foundational to the field. Today, lawyers and advocates turn to it for guidance in both advocacy and reform. Read More

Three Adams County caseworkers are facing charges that they failed to act on a Childline referral, leading to the death of a child. Professor Sarah Katz cautions that caseworker discretion can play a role in such cases, but that “bias can creep in.” Read More

In Philadelphia, Black people account for 42% of the population but 60% of those in foster care. Prof. Sarah Katz says this oversurveillance of Black families by DHS leads to a climate of mutual distrust. Read More

To mark the 25th anniversary of the Adoption and Safe Families Act, Prof. Sarah Katz calls for a re-imagining of “child protection” that addresses conditions of poverty – the real cause of most removals. Read More

When overburdened social workers in Philadelphia’s child welfare system cancel visits, parents can be charged with noncompliance. Prof. Sarah Katz says that can delay reunification. Read More

Prof. Sarah Katz sheds light on the impact of child welfare laws on parents whose children are in foster care, a disproportionate number of whom are Black, brown, Indigenous, or poor. Read more at PBS NewsHour.

Prof. Sarah Katz and TLaw grad Karissa Phelps contribute to this long read about kinship care and the push to reform Philadelphia’s broken child welfare system. Read more at Next City.

Senate candidate Sean Parnell, whom former Pres. Trump has endorsed, has downplayed two temporary restraining orders filed against him by his former wife. Prof. Sarah Katz says that while there may be examples of individuals misusing the TRO process, there is no rampage of people rushing to do so. Read more at CNN.