They take the child out of class. They close the door.
They ask questions the child does not understand. Alone. No parent present. No legal counsel. No warning.
This is not a scene from a courtroom. It’s happening in schools. Every day. Across this country.
And increasingly, we’re hearing from families who say the damage begins not with the agency but with the teacher.
Teachers are supposed to notice when something is wrong. They are supposed to teach, to guide, to protect. But when that power is misused, the consequences are devastating.
We are hearing from parents across Alabama who say their lives have been upended after a teacher made a report that wasn’t based on harm, but on personal bias. Children taken from loving homes. Investigations launched without cause. Families still trying to rebuild after their names were dragged through the mud and their children were removed.
Last year, we received multiple calls from parents who were able to prove that the allegations against them were completely false. But the reports were filed anyway, blindly, from the school. And even with proof, the wreckage has not been reversed.
What’s worse, this isn’t happening across the board. We’re also hearing stories where teachers overlook clear signs of neglect or abuse not because they didn’t see it but because they knew the family. Because they go to church with them. Because their kids are on the same sports team. Because they believe that family deserves grace.
So which families get the benefit of the doubt, and which are railroaded?
Some of the very same teachers who watch children come to school well fed, well dressed, and emotionally cared for are the ones initiating reports based on attitude, tone, or vague suspicion. No harm. No pattern. Just judgment. And once the report is made, it begins. The child is taken into a room. The questions start. The story builds. And parents are left trying to piece together the moment their lives changed.
There are parents putting in the work, fighting to break cycles, and raising children in a system stacked against them. Only to be attacked by the very institution where they send their children to learn.
We are in the phase of accountability. Our children are not born for target practice. They are not born to keep the wheels turning in a system that cannot remember a toddler in the back seat of a hot van, that cannot hear a father begging for his child to be moved to safety, that could not detect the cries of children held in an underground bunker for two years.
This message is not an attack on the good, wholesome teachers who show up every day for their students. This is for the teachers who are complicit. Who report out of anger, not out of care. Who watch harm happen to some children and turn a blind eye, while calling in others because of personal dislike or control.
Due to this, we are taking this week to shed light and bring awareness to just how close you may be to having everything you’ve worked for put on the line. Right after speaking to the very teacher who reported you. In the car line. At the school event. In the grocery store. All while they clearly know who you are, what your family stands for, and that your children are loved.
No parent should have to fear being railroaded by someone they trusted to educate their child. No family should be torn apart because of bias disguised as concern.
This week isn’t just about exposure. It’s about empowerment.
Let’s learn. Let’s prepare. Let’s fight. 🍎
