Light gray background with a blue gradient along the left edge. Handle @adopteescrossinglines at the top. Text explains the creator is sharing personal news and has decided to pause the podcast due to unexpected challenges, including unemployment and increased stress, and is prioritizing mental health.

Light gray background with a blue gradient along the left edge. Handle @adopteescrossinglines at the top. Text explains the podcast has been self-funded and a labor of love. The creator is stepping back to regroup but is not leaving. They will continue writing on Substack and invite people to stay connected there.

Light gray background with a blue gradient along the left edge. Handle @adopteescrossinglines at the top. Text reads: “Every read, share, and subscription means the world and helps me keep creating:” followed by the link substack.com/@adopteescrossinglines.

Light gray background with a blue gradient along the left edge. Handle @adopteescrossinglines at the top. Text thanks the community for their support and says it has carried the creator forward. It ends with: “I’ll be back when the time is right. Until then, take good care of yourselves.”

Taking a pause from the podcast to focus on my mental health. Life has been heavy lately and I need to give myself some grace. I fund the show entirely on my own, so stepping back feels necessary right now. Still writing on Substack though. 🩵

substack.com/@adopteescrossinglines

Blue background with black text and the handle @adopteescrossinglines at the top. Text reads: “Episode update: this week’s release is delayed by one week. Life has been full and capacity has been limited, so we’re pushing the episode to next week. Thank you for your patience.”

Taking an extra week on the next episode.

Back next week.

#adopteesky

a woman wearing a black jacket and earrings with the word bravo on the bottom ALT: a woman wearing a black jacket and earrings with the word bravo on the bottom

One time I got in one and they asked if I minded if they put on a sermon. I told them I did 😂

Incredibly. And I feel like they’re tryna sneak it on in.

Light gray background with a blue curved shape in the lower left corner. Handle @adopteescrossinglines at the top. Large bold text reads: “A proposed policy could change foster placements for LGBTQ+ youth.” Smaller text explains that the federal government is considering removing a rule that required foster homes to affirm a child’s LGBTQ+ identity.

Light gray background with a blue curved shape in the lower right corner. Handle @adopteescrossinglines at the top. Text explains that the previous policy required foster placements to support a child’s sexual orientation or gender identity, complete training to meet LGBTQ+ youth needs, and help youth access affirming resources and services. The slide states that the proposed change would remove these requirements.

Light gray background with a blue curved shape in the lower left corner. Handle @adopteescrossinglines at the top. Large text reads: “LGBTQ+ youth are overrepresented in foster care.” Additional text explains that many enter the system due to family conflict, rejection, or instability. It lists that placement decisions affect safety, mental health, stability, and access to support. The slide concludes that placement is not neutral and directly affects outcomes.

Light gray background with a blue curved shape in the lower right corner. Handle @adopteescrossinglines at the top. Large text asks: “What happens when placement standards are reduced in a system where youth are already vulnerable?” Additional text explains that when care settings are not required to meet a child’s needs, placement itself can become another source of harm, and that foster care is not a neutral outcome.

A proposed federal rule would remove requirements that foster homes affirm LGBTQ+ youth.

LGBTQ+ youth are already overrepresented in foster care.

Placement conditions shape safety, stability, and access to support.

Foster care is not a neutral outcome.

#adopteesky

Light gray background with a blue gradient in the lower right corner. At the top is the handle @adopteescrossinglines. Large bold headline reads: “Most CPS investigations don’t find abuse.” Below, text explains that in Texas, fewer than 1 in 4 CPS investigations in 2025 resulted in findings of abuse or neglect. Despite that, investigations still occur, with more than 136,000 investigations opened statewide last year. Source listed as San Antonio Report.

Light gray background with a blue gradient in the lower right corner and the handle @adopteescrossinglines at the top. Headline reads: “A CPS investigation typically lasts about 45 days.” Text explains that during that time parents may be asked to allow investigators into their homes, share medical or school records, follow “safety plans,” or temporarily send children to live elsewhere. The slide notes that many families make these decisions without ever speaking to a lawyer. Source listed as San Antonio Report.

Light gray background with a blue gradient in the lower right corner and the handle @adopteescrossinglines at the top. Headline reads: “A new Texas program, the Family Early Defense Network, aims to change that.” Text explains that the initiative connects low-income families with attorneys early in CPS investigations, often before a case reaches court. The program is funded by a $14 million grant and will operate statewide through legal aid organizations. The goal is to help families understand their rights before early decisions reshape a case. Source listed as San Antonio Report.

Light gray background with a blue gradient in the lower right corner and the handle @adopteescrossinglines at the top. Large text asks: “This raises a bigger question: What happens when families face state investigations without legal representation?” The slide explains that most CPS investigations never find abuse, but decisions made during the first weeks can still lead to separation. It notes that when families navigate investigations alone, the balance of power shifts heavily toward the system, and early legal defense can change that equation. Source listed as San Antonio Report.

Texas opened 136,000+ CPS investigations in 2025.

Fewer than 1 in 4 resulted in findings of abuse or neglect.

A new statewide legal network aims to connect low-income families with attorneys earlier in CPS investigations.

Because many of the most consequential decisions happen before court.

One takeaway from The Joker: organizing across class is powerful.

The Black Panthers showed this through programs like free breakfast for children, and the government moved quickly to shut it down.

That’s what happens when people build power together.

New episode out now.

buff.ly/dpC8kfJ

Blue and gray background. Text: “CPS cases may soon be managed by private companies in parts of West Virginia.” A bill proposes a pilot program where private entities manage day-to-day CPS casework. CPS would still control investigations and removal decisions. Source: West Virginia Public Broadcasting, Mar 9, 2026.

Blue and gray background. Text: Pilot program could begin January 2028 in six counties: Berkeley, Jefferson, Raleigh, Fayette, Monroe, and Summers. If expanded, it could become statewide by 2029 unless lawmakers stop it. Source listed.

Blue and gray background. Text: Concerns raised: private companies may have profit incentives, contractors may have limited legal liability, and administrative costs could increase. Similar privatization efforts in other states have produced equal or worse outcomes for children.

Blue and gray background. Text asks: “What happens when systems that already separate families are outsourced to private companies?” It notes that when family separation becomes a contracted service, the line between public policy and private profit becomes thinner.

West Virginia lawmakers are proposing a statewide child abuse reporting hotline staffed by medical professionals.

Policies like this expand reporting systems.

But they don’t address the conditions that often lead families into crisis like poverty.

Prevention requires resources.

#adopteesky

In The Joker, Arthur’s identity is shaped by unstable narratives.

Money, influence, and secrecy can reshape reality, and bury the people harmed by it.

Episode co-hosted with J (@itsjway.bsky.social), a survivor of the system and editor of the show.

#adopteesky

Is it that obvious? 😂 Cuz people always tell me I look like them and I’m like stop lying. But they do look alike 😂😂😂

The podcast.
The research.
The conversations about adoption and the family policing system.

But also the human behind all of it.

Jumping on a trend to show a little more of the person behind Adoptees Crossing Lines.

🎧 Listen: pod.link/1651229727?v...

#adopteesky

Blue graphic stating that Madison College opened a $10M early learning campus so parents don’t have to choose between school and childcare. Handle @adopteescrossinglines shown.

Blue graphic stating that when childcare is affordable and accessible, families stay together. Text notes parents can attend class while children stay with caregivers. Handle shown.

Blue graphic stating that the family policing system often intervenes after families are already stretched thin due to childcare, housing, and economic stress.

Blue graphic stating that keeping children with their families requires material support, not investigations. Text mentions childcare, housing, and income stability reduce system involvement.

A college in Wisconsin opened a new early learning campus for students who have children.

Support changes outcomes.

#adopteesky

😂😂😂

Blue background graphic with white text stating: “Florida is advancing a bill after children were taken from their parents, not because of abuse, but because a rare medical condition was misread as abuse.” Below, highlighted text reads: “This isn’t an isolated mistake.” The final line states: “It’s how the family policing system operates.” The handle @adopteescrossinglines appears at the top. Source listed at the bottom: South Santa Rosa News, Jan 30, 2026.

Blue background graphic with white text explaining that a Florida couple’s twins were removed after doctors misinterpreted symptoms of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome as abuse. Despite medical evidence, the state intervened and the children were placed with a relative. Highlighted text states that the parents are now limited to supervised visits with their own children. The slide notes that “Patterson’s Law” would allow parents to request a second medical opinion before abuse conclusions are finalized. The handle @adopteescrossinglines appears at the top. Source listed at the bottom.

Blue background graphic with white text stating that family policing investigations often treat uncertainty as danger, especially when families do not fit narrow medical or social profiles. The slide explains that rare conditions, disabilities, and chronic illness are frequently misread as neglect or harm. A list follows: families separated, surveillance justified, and trauma reframed as protection. The final lines state: “This is not about one doctor. It’s about power and discretion.” The handle @adopteescrossinglines appears at the top. Source listed at the bottom.

Blue background graphic stating that a law allowing second medical opinions may reduce harm in some cases but does not address the deeper issue. Highlighted text explains that families must prove innocence after removal instead of being supported before harm occurs. The slide concludes: “Changes that react after separation is not prevention. It is damage control.” The handle @adopteescrossinglines appears at the top. Source listed at the bottom.

When uncertainty is treated as danger, families pay the price.

This post looks at a new law, and what it does and doesn’t address.

#adopteesky

Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot — A Critical Review Is Sound of Hope inspiring, or adoption propaganda? A deep dive into the Possum Trot Texas church, foster care narratives, and family policing.

Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot is called inspiring.

But what happens when we examine it through the lens of family separation, faith-based adoption, & the Christian foster care movement?

This is a critical review grounded in lived experience.

Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot celebrates 77 adoptions.

But most children enter the system for “neglect” — often poverty.

If churches can mobilize adoption, they can mobilize resources to keep families together.

New episode out now:
pod.link/1651229727

Episode co-hosted with J.

Alternatives to Foster Care: What Real Safety Actually Looks Like What are real alternatives to foster care? Learn how mutual aid, housing, and guaranteed income prevent child removal and support families.

The Black Panthers built free breakfast programs.
The Young Lords took over hospitals.

We’ve seen what community-based safety looks like.

This piece explores real alternatives to foster care, and why safety begins with resources, not reports.

Link below.

buff.ly/YtyCAXd

#adopteesky

Blue background with dark purple and white text. Header reads @adopteescrossinglines. Text: “Hotlines are not a safety plan. Surveillance is not protection.” Arrow icon in lower corner.

Blue background with white and dark purple text. Header reads @adopteescrossinglines. Text: “Real safety looks like: stable housing, guaranteed income, accessible childcare, disability accommodations, mental health care without fear, community-based support. Safety begins with resources, not reports.” Arrow icon in corner.

Blue background with white text. Header reads @adopteescrossinglines. Text: “Real safety means: A parent asking for help and not being investigated. A child struggling and receiving support, not a case file. Poverty treated as a policy failure, not a parenting flaw.” Arrow icon in corner.

Blue background with dark purple and white text. Header reads @adopteescrossinglines. Text: “We have confused control with care. Real safety is stability. Real safety is material support. Real safety is community. Safety is not separation. It never was.” Arrow icon in corner.

Real safety is housing, income, childcare, and support before crisis.

It’s not investigation.
It’s not removal.

Safety is not separation.

Thank you for joining me this Black History Month as I broke down the family policing system! 🫶🏾

#adopteesky

One Church One Child operates in 30+ states. In Florida, it played a role in my adoption.

Churches aren’t taxed.

Adoption is a legal transfer of parental rights, backed by the state.

Follow the money.

Episode co-hosted with J (@itsjway.bsky.social), a survivor of the system.

#adopteesky

“To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time."

— James Baldwin

What Child Welfare Abolition Actually Means What is child welfare abolition? Learn how abolition differs from reform and why ending family separation doesn’t mean ignoring harm.

Abolition scares people.
Forced family separation should.

Abolition doesn’t mean ignoring harm.
It means ending systems built on surveillance and removal.

I wrote about what it actually means.

buff.ly/6q2ddR8

Blue background with white and dark purple text. Header reads @adopteescrossinglines. Text: “Abolition scares people. Forced family separation should. If separation has been normalized, of course abolition will sound radical.” Arrow icon in corner.

Blue background with white and dark purple text. Header reads @adopteescrossinglines. Text: “Abolition does not mean ignoring harm, leaving children unsafe, or ending support. It means ending systems built on surveillance, punishment, and forced removal.” Arrow icon in corner.

Blue background with white and dark purple text. Header reads @adopteescrossinglines. Text: “Abolition shifts the response from investigation to material support, reporting to community care, removal to stability, case plans to resources. It asks: What would safety look like if families had housing, income, healthcare, and childcare first?” Arrow icon in corner.

Blue background with dark purple text. Header reads @adopteescrossinglines. Text: “Abolition is not chaos. It is a refusal to accept poverty, disability, and racial bias as grounds for separation. It is building safety without coercion. It is care without surveillance.” Arrow icon in corner.

Abolition sounds radical because family separation has been normalized.

Forced removal is legal.

Building safety without coercion is what scares people?

#adopteesky

There is not one single example of transnational #adoption that isn't tied to either colonialism, war, occupation, genocide, stolen land or good old fashioned money. No country has ever entered the transnational adoption industry because they wanted to help children. 🥚

In Possum Trot adoptive families are struggling financially.

Love alone doesn’t raise children.

Episode co-hosted with J (@itsjway.bsky.social), a survivor of the system and editor of the show.

#adopteesky

Why Child Welfare Reform Keeps Failing Why does child welfare reform keep failing? Explore how CPS reform efforts leave surveillance and removal intact, and why change requires more than rebranding.

Why does family policing reform keep failing?

Because the foundation never changes.

New trainings.
New policies.
Same surveillance.
Same removal.

I broke it down here. ⬇️

buff.ly/6i2TiQy

#adopteesky

Blue background with white and dark purple text. Header reads @adopteescrossinglines. Text: “Why do ‘reforms’ keep failing? Because the foundation never changes. You can’t reform a system built on surveillance and separation into one that produces safety.” Arrow icon in corner.

Blue background with white and dark purple text. Header reads @adopteescrossinglines. Text lists: new policies, new training requirements, bias workshops, “family preservation” programs, hotlines renamed, agencies rebranded. Bottom text: “Removal numbers remain high. Racial disparities remain. Surveillance remains.”

Blue background with white and dark purple text. Header reads @adopteescrossinglines. Text: “Reforms usually adjust paperwork, timelines, case planning language, reporting standards. They don’t change who gets separated or what the system is funded to do. You can’t tweak your way out of a structure designed for control.” Arrow icon in corner.

Blue background with white and dark purple text. Header reads @adopteescrossinglines. Text: “When reforms leave surveillance, punishment, and removal intact, harm continues, just with softer language. If the goal is safety, we have to move beyond reform. We have to rethink the structure itself.” Arrow icon in corner.

Reforms adjust paperwork.
They don’t change who gets surveilled or separated.

That’s why the cycle repeats.

If the structure stays the same, the harm does too.

#adopteesky

Title IV-E Foster Care Funding and the Budget for Removal Title IV-E foster care funding reimburses states for placement. Here’s how federal funding structures removal vs support in family policing.

Title IV-E foster care funding is uncapped.
Prevention funding is capped.

Removal has a guaranteed stream.
Support does not.

I broke down how federal reimbursement shapes family separation policy.

buff.ly/UUv5iSU

Blue background with white and dark purple text. The handle @adopteescrossinglines appears at the top. Large text reads: “Removal has a budget. Family separation is funded. Follow the money.” A right arrow icon appears in the corner indicating a swipe.

Blue background with white and dark purple text. The handle @adopteescrossinglines appears at the top. Text reads: “Under federal law: Title IV-E funding for foster care is uncapped. States are reimbursed for each eligible child placed. Adoption bonuses reward finalized adoptions.” At the bottom in dark purple text: “Separation has a guaranteed stream. Support does not.”

Blue background with white and dark purple text. The handle @adopteescrossinglines appears at the top. Text reads: “When a child is removed: States can receive thousands per month in federal reimbursement for foster care placement.” Below: “When a family needs: Rent help. Childcare. Food support. Disability accommodations.” At the bottom in dark purple text: “The system pays reliably for removal.”

Blue background with white and dark purple text. The handle @adopteescrossinglines appears at the top. Text reads: “Black children are overrepresented in foster care nationwide. When removal is easier to fund than assistance, racial disparities don’t just happen. They’re structured.” At the bottom: “Follow the money.”

Removal has a budget.

Title IV-E foster care funds are uncapped.
Prevention funds are capped.

If separation is easier to fund than rent support, what outcome do you think we get?

Follow the money.

#adopteesky

Is Foster Care Safe? A System Level Look We examine foster care outcomes, separation trauma, and financial incentives to answer one question: is foster care safe?

We’re told foster care equals safety.
But the data tells a more complicated story.

I wrote about placement instability, long term outcomes, and why family separation is never neutral.

If you care about truth over slogans, this one’s for you.

buff.ly/cu85gtD

#adopteesky

Blue background with white and dark purple text that reads: “Foster care is not a neutral outcome.” Below it: “It’s often framed as: ‘safety’ ‘rescue’ ‘better than abuse.’ But inside the family policing system, foster care is not a blank slate.” The handle @adopteescrossinglines appears at the top.

Blue background with white and dark purple text that reads: “Neutral would mean:” followed by bullet points: “No racial disparities. No poverty based removals. No disability bias. No financial incentives tied to placement.” Below in dark purple text: “But that’s not what we see. Black families, poor families, disabled parents, and system impacted families are separated at higher rates. That isn’t random.”

Blue background with white and dark purple text that reads: “Foster care doesn’t start on its own.” Below: “It comes after:” followed by bullet points: “Surveillance. Investigations. Risk labeling. Case planning.” At the bottom in dark purple text: “By the time removal happens, foster care is presented as the only option.”

Blue background with white and dark purple text that reads: “Family separation is trauma. We know this.” Below: “If safety were the goal, we would fund housing, childcare, healthcare, and real support, not investigation and removal.” At the bottom in dark purple text: “Foster care is not neutral. It is a product of a system that responds to need with punishment.”

Foster care isn’t a neutral outcome.

It’s the result of surveillance, investigation, and escalation, and it disproportionately impacts Black families.

Black History Month means naming that truth.

#adopteesky