We’ve spent decades blaming the system.
Parents say it. Judges say it. Even the workers inside it say it. The system did this. The system made a mistake. The system took the child. But the greatest myth in child welfare is that the system acts alone. It doesn’t.
The system is people. Real people. People with names, desks, emails, paychecks, and decision-making power. People who walk into courtrooms and make life-altering claims with no real accountability. People who decide which story gets told, which facts get buried, and which families get torn apart.
And we know many of them choose wrong intentionally. Because you asked a question. Because you pushed back. Because you stood your ground. Because you refused to stay silent.
They saw you as a threat to their control. And for that, they punished you. Not because you were unfit. Not because your child was in danger. But because you challenged their power in a system where power goes unchecked. They don’t make mistakes. They make choices. And too often, those choices are made to selectively destroy families, children, parents, and loved ones on purpose.
The paperwork they produce does destroy families. A single false statement can lead to removal. An ignored warning sign can cost a child their safety. A DHR director can approve a separation with no legal basis. A judge can sign off without reading a word. These aren’t just technical errors. These are calculated choices made by people who know the weight their signatures carry. Too often, they use that power to protect themselves, not the children or families in front of them.
And yet the faces behind these decisions are rarely seen. The names are rarely spoken. The damage is real, but the accountability disappears into a fog of forms, titles, and excuses. That is not a glitch in the system. That is the design of its protection. Shield the worker. Protect the institution. Discredit the family. Close the case.
But we have lived through it. We have watched our homes be invaded, our children taken, our words twisted, and our rights ignored, all by people. Not computers. Not policy pages. People. Individuals who had the power to choose a different path and didn’t.
There is no healing without truth. And there is no truth if we continue to speak in vague terms while real harm is being done by people with real names with a personal agenda.
We no longer speak to the system as if it is some detached untouchable force. We speak to those who are holding the pen. Holding the case file. Holding the power.
Because the system is made of real people. And they are no longer invisible.
