Black Mothers Are Done Being Silent

On Mother’s Day 2025, while much of the country celebrated with flowers and brunch, a group of Black mothers gathered in front of the White House to expose a truth few are willing to speak out loud.

Their signs didn’t say “Happy Mother’s Day.” They said: CPS IS GENOCIDE.

This was the message of the Black Mothers March, a coalition of mothers, advocates, and justice-centered organizations calling for the complete dismantling of the system that claims to protect children but continues to destroy Black families across the country.

Led by groups like @blackmothersmarch, @operationsstopcps, @harrietsdreams, and @freeblackmamasdmv, this movement stands in direct opposition to what they call “family policing”—a state-funded surveillance and separation structure masquerading as child protection.

This Is Not a Protest. It’s a Reckoning.

These mothers are not asking for reform. They are demanding abolition, truth, and repair. They came to Washington, D.C., with 12 clear demands that represent a vision for justice, healing, and the full restoration of Black family power.

The 12 Demands of the Black Mothers March

Reclaiming Black Families. Dismantling Family Policing.

1. Abolish the Family Policing System
   Dismantle CPS/DHR as we know it. Shift power from government surveillance to community-based support rooted in care, not coercion.
2. End the Termination of Parental Rights (TPR)
   Stop the practice of permanently severing children from their families. Restore the human right to parent.
3. Eliminate Federal Adoption Incentives
   Repeal Title IV-E financial bonuses that reward states for removing children and finalizing adoptions.
4. Defund and Divest from Child Protective Services
   Redirect taxpayer money from state family regulation systems into direct support, housing, childcare, and community healing.
5. Create Community-Led Family Support Networks
   Replace mandatory state case plans with voluntary, non-punitive care systems led by parents, elders, and healers.
6. Decriminalize Poverty and Cultural Parenting
   Stop using neglect as a catch-all for being poor, disciplining differently, or refusing compliance with biased norms.
7. Ensure Full Due Process for Families
   No family should lose a child without legal counsel, trial, or cross-examination of the accuser.
8. Expunge and Repair False Reports
   Create legal pathways to challenge, remove, and receive restitution for false or malicious CPS reports.
9. End Forced and Coerced “Safety Plans”
   Stop manipulating parents into signing voluntary plans under threat of removal.
10. Fund Family Reunification and Kinship Placement First
    Before foster care or stranger adoption, invest in healing and returning children to their parents or relatives.
11. Restore Families Torn Apart by Wrongful Separation
    Launch a national review board to investigate and repair wrongful removals—past and present.
12. Declare Child Separation a Human Rights Violation
    Recognize and treat family separation in the name of “protection” as a systemic abuse of civil and human rights, especially against Black, Indigenous, and immigrant families.

This Is a Liberation Roadmap

These 12 demands are not just policy points. They are survival terms. They represent the voices of mothers who were silenced, criminalized, and erased by a system that claims to protect their children while profiting from their removal.

These women are not unfit. They are not unsafe. They are mothers reclaiming their power and telling the truth.

To support the movement and learn more, visit BlackMothersMarch.com.

What Happens Next?

On May 11, 2025, Black mothers stood in front of the White House and made their message impossible to ignore. But if what they’re saying is true—and it is—then one march in one city is not enough.

While statistics show that Black families are the primary target of child removals, they are not the only ones. This system has grown bold enough to harm parents of every race, every background, and every walk of life. No community is truly safe when profit is prioritized over protection.

This isn’t just about Black mothers. It’s about every parent, every family, and every community that has been targeted, misrepresented, and torn apart by a system that calls itself protection but operates like persecution.

The truth is, the model set in D.C. may be exactly what’s needed everywhere.

Should there be marches like this across the country? Should every state rise up until these removals are stopped, these agencies are defunded, and awareness is brought to the horrors happening behind the walls of so-called child protection?

Because if they could lead the way in D.C., maybe it’s time the rest of us followed— louder, stronger, and together.