Pittsburgh Family Liberation seeks to foster a community of mutual aid, family empowerment, self-advocacy, and community-based participatory defense for families dealing with the Allegheny County Office of Children, Youth, and Families. We empower families to advocate for themselves through political and systems-navigation training, peer-to-peer support networks, and systems accompaniment and advocacy. We look to disrupt the historically racist and classist tenants of the family policing system while building thriving, interconnected communities in which families are supported, children are given autonomy, and accountability can be fostered. The goal of our project is to build a network of people creating a system of mutual aid and fighting against all systems causing oppression.
We create a space where families affected by CYF can: meet and discuss their cases; help each other better understand the systems they are navigating and the language of those systems; help each other address resource needs that are hindering case resolution; offer practical help, like transportation to visitation, accompaniment to medical appointments, or even help moving from one home to another; accompany each other to court, meeting with lawyers, social workers, and other systems professionals, in order to document and help navigate these often fraught interactions; provide emotional support and debriefing during what is an extremely painful and stressful experience for families; and create a deep community of care and resistance that not only advocates for each other but celebrates each other in our victories, both small and large.