Policy & Advocacy

The Center for Family Representation (CFR) advocates for policy changes in pursuit of a future free of racist systems that perpetuate harms against communities of color. CFR recognizes that the family policing, adult and youth incarceration, and immigration exclusion systems police, surveil, control, and punish primarily poor, Black and brown people, and the housing and public benefits systems reinforce social inequalities rooted in slavery. These systems bolster racism, inequity, and injustice.

CFR strives for social change through direct representation, litigation, institutional advocacy, legislative reform, and by partnering with impacted communities to achieve a more just and equitable society. We envision a world where all families are supported and have the resources that they need to thrive. 

The policy team at CFR is guided by the following core values and principles:

• We will work to amplify the voices and choices of parents, youth, and families, who have experienced the family policing, adult and youth incarceration, and/or immigration systems.
• We support anti-racist policies that seek to eliminate or reduce the harm of the family policing, adult and youth incarceration, immigration, housing and public benefits systems.
• We will increase access to justice regardless of race, immigration status, ability, income, gender identity, sexual orientation, or age.
• We strive to strengthen family stability by ending the surveillance and punishment of our clients and their families, reducing adult and youth incarceration and involvement with the family policing system, and by improving continuity of care and access to quality, community-based services.
• We support policies that expand opportunities for youth, families, formerly incarcerated people, and low-income Black and brown communities.
• We will combat the ways in which family separation through the foster system, incarceration, or deportation creates generational harm within families.
• We support the right of all people to seek reproductive healthcare and to make decisions about their bodies and families without government interference.
• We will not support any policies that strengthen the systems that police, surveil, coerce, and control low-income communities of color.

Current Priorities:

• Increase access to legal services and protect due process rights for litigants
  • Ensure all New York families are informed of their rights at the start of a family policing investigation
  • Guarantee access to high-quality defense at the start of every family policing investigation
  • Secure funding to meet caseload standards for parent representation developed by the State’s Office of Indigent Legal Services
  • Provide all litigants with attorneys in housing court at the start of their case
  • Require children to consult with an attorney prior to waiving Miranda rights
  • Increase funding for immigration legal services

• Ensure families have access to services and resources to protect family integrity without surveillance, fear, or intrusion
  • Reduce the reach, and work towards ending the mandate to report
  • End anonymous, harassing reporting to the State Central Register
  • Establish access to affordable and quality childcare, housing, and mental health services
  • Ensure that all children receive quality education in schools that provide holistic support to their communities. Schools should use developmentally appropriate, graduated interventions with students rather than exclusionary discipline.
  • Ensure that all pregnant people and newborn babies are not drug tested by a medical provider without providing written and verbal informed consent 
  • Support family based immigration
  • Reform New York State’s Order of Protection registry to prevent information sharing with the federal government, which can lead to immigration involvement
  • Support trans youth and their parents, including equitable access to resources for trans youth

• Support the distribution of resources to address the underlying causes of poverty
  • Establish state-wide universal basic income and a universal child allowance
  • Expand Public Assistance and SNAP programs
  • Ensure that families have access to basic necessities through community organizations and schools

• Adult and Youth incarceration reforms
  • Protect the human rights of incarcerated people and ensure they are housed in safe and habitable conditions, including access to appropriate medical care
  • No rollbacks to reforms that protect Black and Brown communities from over-policing, while maintaining public safety, including bail reform, discovery reform, and Raise the Age
  • End the policing of Black and Brown communities
  • End overcrowding in jails and prisons by reducing the prison population
  • Treatment and placement of incarcerated people based on gender identity
  • Advocate for restorative justice practices in schools, the justice system and in youth placement facilities
  • Ban rogue DNA databases and end the collection of DNA without court orders or consent
  • Keep families connected and ensure in-person visits to incarcerated people
  • Increase opportunities for formerly incarcerated adults and youth.

• Increase housing security
  • Prioritize housing security and provide support through cash assistance and relief for rent arrears.
  • Increase access to housing subsidies to assist with rent arrears
  • Require good cause for any eviction 
  • Improve conditions of NYCHA housing