On DHHS and how the carceral system impacts families and parenting. With Kayla Kalel, a previously incarcerated person who is currently a birthworker with low-income folks who self-identify as being in recovery or using substances, and Wendy Smith, Washington County Community College student, Me-Rap organizer, and naloxone distributor for Maine Access Points in long term recovery from substances and a resident at the Southern Maine Women’s Re-entry Center. Moderated by Cait Vaughan, birthworker, childbirth educator, harm reduction organizer, and Kayla Kalel, co-founder of the Birth Justice Collective. 

The Freedom & Captivity Podcast presents conversations with people at the forefront of abolitionist organizing and visioning in Maine. A new episode is launched weekly during fall 2021. The episodes will cover a broad range of issues, from abolition’s history in Maine to current calls to end youth incarceration; from alternatives to punishment that prioritize harm reduction and a different approach to drug policy to the impact on families of the criminal legal system; from the disproportionate policing experiences by Black and brown people to the use of surveillance to monitor political dissent. The Portland Media Center sponsors the podcast, which is produced by Catherine Besteman, edited by sound engineers Josh Riddle and Dino Raymond, and accompanied by the music of Samuel James.

Stream the episode above or access it via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Audible, or the Portland Media Center website.

Resources for Further Learning:

– Dorothy Roberts (2002) Shattered Bonds: The Color of Child Welfare. Basic Books/Civitas.

– Movement for Family Power report, How the Foster System Has Become Ground Zero for the U.S. Drug War.

– Black Families Matter (2020), podcast with Lisa Sangoi (of Movement for Family Power) and Dorothy Roberts

– Dorothy Roberts (2020) Abolishing Policing Also Means Abolishing Family Regulation. The Imprint.- Elizabeth Brico (2020) Forced, Rapid Adoptions are a Weapon of the Drug War. Filter Magazine.