# United Family Advocates

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## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://unitedfamilyadvocates.org/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [Hello world!](https://unitedfamilyadvocates.org/2024/07/19/hello-world/): Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!

## Pages

- [Home](https://unitedfamilyadvocates.org/): Creating a more compassionate and just approach to child welfare Learn more
- [Action](https://unitedfamilyadvocates.org/action/): Working toward a future where families are safe, secure, and together UFA Campaigns and Member Impact
- [In the News](https://unitedfamilyadvocates.org/in-the-news/): Bipartisan advocacy, research and education to keep families safe and together In the News
- [About Us](https://unitedfamilyadvocates.org/about-us/): About United Family Advocates UFA is a bipartisan group of child and family advocates who advance policy solutions to create a more compassionate and just approach to child welfare.
- [The Problem](https://unitedfamilyadvocates.org/the-problem/): There is no question that child abuse and willful neglect are serious and harmful—but these cases represent a small minority of those investigated or acted upon by the system. Most families caught in the net are not dangerous—they are struggling. The United States’ current policy approaches to protecting children routinely inflict harm on families who
- [Pete B op-ed By Joanna Lack](https://unitedfamilyadvocates.org/pete-b-op-ed-by-joanna-lack/): What Pete Buttigieg's CPS Nightmare Reveals About the Child Welfare System By Joanna Lack, Executive Director of United Family Advocates Published July 20th, 2026 When Pete Buttigieg shared that an anonymous report had triggered a Child Protective Services investigation into his family, many Americans were stunned. For twenty-four hours, the former Cabinet secretary and his
- [Slate Article by Chris Gottlieb](https://unitedfamilyadvocates.org/460-2/): Pete Buttigieg Didn’t Have to Let Those CPS Officers In Here’s what he could have done instead. By Chris GottliebThis essay was originally published in Slate on July 8, 2026. Read the original version here. A few weeks ago, child protective services separated Pete Buttigieg’s 4-year-old twins from him after an anonymous caller made unsupported allegations in an
- [UFA Member Impact](https://unitedfamilyadvocates.org/ufa-member-actions-overview/): Impact UFA members conduct research, engage vast audiences through media advocacy, and build coalitions that advance UFA’s policy priorities.
- [Policy Priorities](https://unitedfamilyadvocates.org/policy-priorities-overview/): Priorities Change federal laws and funding to prioritize child safety and protect family autonomy, promote family integrity, and preserve family ties
- [Donate](https://unitedfamilyadvocates.org/donate/): Help keep families safe and together Donate today
- [In Memoriam](https://unitedfamilyadvocates.org/in-memoriam/): United Family Advocates mourns the recent passing of two visionary leaders who shaped the child welfare field. Paul Vincent passed away on July 25. As the head of Alabama’s child welfare division, Paul embraced reform and helped transform Alabama into a national model for family-centered practice during his tenure. He later founded the Child Welfare Policy and Practice

## Priorities

- [Protect Family Autonomy](https://unitedfamilyadvocates.org/priority/protect-family-autonomy/): Children should not be removed from their families and communities because they are poor. The confusion of poverty with neglect has led to a system that cannot care for children in actual need of protection, and traumatizes families whose needs could have been met without child welfare system intervention.
- [Preserve Family Ties](https://unitedfamilyadvocates.org/priority/preserve-family-ties/): Since federal law changed in 1997 to incentivize termination of parental rights and adoption, two million children have had their legal relationship with their families terminated by courts across the United States, despite the benefits and desire of many families to maintain connections. For children who need to be separated from their families, far too
- [Promote Family Integrity](https://unitedfamilyadvocates.org/priority/promote-family-integrity/): Current federal law is misaligned with constitutional protections on when child welfare authorities can take children from their parents, resulting in inappropriate removals of children. Providing families with skilled legal advocates is a proven preventive service, and a similar approach has been effectively established in federal policies in the criminal justice system.

## Actions

- [Promoting Family Integrity](https://unitedfamilyadvocates.org/ufa-member-action/promoting-family-integrity/): July 2026: UFA joined an amicus brief in a landmark Eleventh Circuit case affirming that parents retain a fundamental constitutional right to raise and live with their children, even after a criminal conviction, and that states cannot categorically deny that right without individualized review. April 2026: UFA member Michael Ramey’s organization publishes the State of
- [Protecting Family Autonomy](https://unitedfamilyadvocates.org/ufa-member-action/protecting-family-autonomy/): ​ May 2026: UFA member Chris Gottlieb’s work challenging unlawful emergency removals of children from their homes is featured in this article in The New Yorker; read more on the NYU Law website. May 2026: A new study by UFA member Nora McCarthy and Dr. Kelley Fong finds that placing child welfare agencies, which are
- [Preserving Family Ties](https://unitedfamilyadvocates.org/ufa-member-action/preserving-family-ties/): June 2026: UFA members Kathleen Creamer and April Lee are instrumental in two PA House Bills: one to create a path to reinstating parental rights and another to ensure that parental incarceration is not the sole basis on which a court’s decision for involuntary termination of parental rights is made. October 2024: UFA members Kathleen

## In the News

- [Promoting Family Integrity](https://unitedfamilyadvocates.org/news/promoting-family-integrity-news/): August 2026: UFA members Andrew Brown and Josh Gupta-Kagan are quoted in this Tampa Bay Times article, which brings light to families’ experiences with hidden foster care. July 2026: UFA member Viviana Bonilla Lopez publishes in The 74, highlighting bipartisan agreement on needed child welfare system reforms. December 2025: In the Family Justice Journal, UFA's Executive Director
- [Protecting Family Autonomy](https://unitedfamilyadvocates.org/news/protecting-family-autonomy-news/): July 2026: After Pete Buttigieg’s harrowing interaction with Child Protective Services, Slate publishes Pete Buttigieg Didn’t Have to Let Those CPS Officers In. Here’s what he could have done instead by UFA member Chris Gottlieb. July 2026: In a Bridge Michigan piece, UFA member Richard Wexler asks: Can Michigan learn the right lessons from two
- [Preserving Family Ties](https://unitedfamilyadvocates.org/news/preserving-family-ties-news/): December 2024: UFA member Shrounda Selivanoff is interviewed in a two-part episode of Matt Anderson’s Proximity Process Podcast on the harms of terminating parental rights. February 2024: UFA member Kathleen Creamer is interviewed on Matt Anderson’s Proximity Process Podcast about the harms of ASFA. December 2022: NBC News and ProPublica publish an investigation on Termination

## Categories

- [Uncategorized](https://unitedfamilyadvocates.org/category/uncategorized/)