CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964
State agencies receiving federal funds cannot discriminate when investigating or removing children
FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT
Requires fair, non-discriminatory government action when parental rights are involved
BIAS AND DISCRIMINATION
Outdated failure to protect laws are rooted in discriminatory logic and enforced through internal biases: sexism that assumes women are inherently responsible for children, racism that frames minorities as neglectful, classism that treats poverty as moral failure, ableism that casts disability as incapacity, and ageism that equates youth with incompetence.
Childhood exposure to violence is caused by an abuser’s actions,
yet often punished based on the victim’s identity.
​~90%
of domestic violence is committed by men
80%
SEXISM
97%
​
OF
DV
CASES
label the mother as the
“non-protective parent”
of parents charged with
failure to protect
are female
Failure to protect laws disproportionately affect mothers, who are
5X more likely to face child welfare intervention when reporting violence in the home than fathers. These patriarchal laws treat caretaking as the woman’s responsibility while also holding women accountable for the actions of their partner — a sexist double standard that men are rarely expected to meet.
Black mothers
are reported to CPS
3X
more often than white mothers when reporting DV
Indigenous children are
4X
more likely to be removed from their homes
Black children are
more likely to be removed from their homes
2X
RACISM
Families of color are often aggressively surveilled and more harshly judged in child welfare investigations, even when they seek help to escape violence. Cultural and structural racism misinterprets their survival strategies, family dynamics, and community supports as neglect rather than protection, turning the realities of endurance into evidence against them.
A parent struggling with poverty is 3X more likely to lose custody of their children when domestic violence occurs, even though financial dependence is cited as the #1 barrier to leaving an abusive relationship. Failure to protect laws treat lack of resources as lack of care and punish parents both for staying in an abusive relationship with financial security and for leaving one without it.
of victims reported fear
66%
of losing their children due to homelessness if
they left the abuser.
of child removals list housing instability or homelessness as a primary factor.
The vast majority of all failure to protect petitions involving domestic violence are filed against low-income mothers.
CLASSISM
30%
People with disabilities are 2-3X more likely to be victims of domestic violence, and child welfare agencies often assume that a parent's disability equals danger, weakness, and inadequacy. Parents with disabilities — including survivors living with trauma-related mental health impacts as well as those whose impairments limit their ability to escape abuse
— are often unjustly prosecuted under failure to protect laws.
1 in 6 children has a parent with a disability
ABLEISM
PARENTS WITH A
PSYCHIATRIC DISABILITY
70-80%
CASES RESULT IN
CHILD REMOVAL
ONCE A CHILD IS REMOVED, PARENTAL RIGHTS ARE
PERMANENTLY TERMINATED
80%
OF THE
TIME
AMERICAN DISABILITIES ACT
CPS cannot punish a parent for symptoms, trauma, or limitations of their disability without first applying reasonable accommodations. Parental rights cannot be restricted or terminated based on disability.
IN PRACTICE
Children are frequently removed from loving, disabled caretakers before any supportive accommodations are provided. In many cases, disability is cited as the reason for removal.
2X
TEEN MOTHERS
3X
2X
more likely to be reported to CPS when reporting DV
more likely to have parental rights terminated
more likely to be victims of DV
When their children enter foster care, less than 50% of teen mothers achieve reunification
AGEISM
Young mothers experiencing domestic violence are often labeled irresponsible or incapable, and their attempts to seek help are more heavily policed than supported. Failure to protect laws turn their age into evidence of risk, holding them to unrealistic expectations of knowledge, power, and control, while the adult who causes the danger faces less accountability.
Stereotypes do not constitute risk.