In this short wrap-up, Classie and Sonya close out Season 3 with a quick thank you to everyone who’s been listening, sharing, and doing the work alongside them. They’ll be taking a summer break and will be back soon with Season 4.

In Part 2 of our conversation with Dr. Kelly Sykes, we focus on how the child welfare system uses IQ tests and intellectual disability labels as shortcuts to judge parenting capacity. Dr. Sykes explains why an IQ score doesn’t tell us what a parent can do, how evaluations fail to include meaningful observations or reasonable accommodations, and why these practices harm families.

We also explore the broader systemic problem: child welfare evaluations are built on flawed tools and frameworks that ignore child development and disproportionately target disabled parents and parents of color.

This episode offers practical insights for advocates, attorneys, and professionals working to challenge these practices and push for change.

In this episode, Sonia Johnson, Esq. and Classie Colinet, Esq. speak with Dr. Kelly Sykes, a family forensic psychologist, about how child development science is often left out of child welfare decisions. We focus on cases involving parents with intellectual disabilities and how parenting capacity is misunderstood or overlooked. Dr. Sykes shares what she sees in her work, including how evaluations differ between custody and child protection cases, and what that means for families. This conversation offers practical insight for advocates working to keep families together and improve how decisions are made in the system.

In this episode of Torn, Classie and Sonia are joined by Roxanne Logan—attorney, clinical social worker, and longtime advocate—for a conversation about how parenting classes are used in the child welfare system. Together, they examine why these classes are often mandatory, rarely relevant, and disconnected from the realities of Black and Brown families.

They share firsthand stories from the field, discuss how culture and survival shape parenting, and call out the deeper issue: a system more focused on compliance than care. From court orders to funding streams, this episode takes a critical look at how the system fails to meet families where they are—and what needs to change.

In this episode of Torn, Sonia Johnson and Classie Colinet focus on mental health in Black communities and what it means for advocates to support their clients with care, context, and cultural understanding. Drawing from personal experience and community history, they talk about how mental health has been treated in Black families, the stigma that still exists, and the slow shift toward healing and openness.

They also speak directly to advocates working in the child welfare system, offering concrete ways to check in with Black and Brown clients, ask meaningful questions, and connect them with resources that reflect their realities. Throughout the episode, they make the case that tending to mental health isn’t a luxury—it’s a necessary part of advocacy, especially in systems that often ignore or pathologize the communities they claim to serve.

When children enter foster care, they lose more than just their homes—they lose their family connections, cultural identity, and access to their history. In this episode, we speak with Shanika Bynum about what it means to truly support children in care, beyond just placement.

Shanika shares insights on how foster care often erases a child’s sense of self, why maintaining family ties and cultural traditions is essential, and how both biological and foster parents can help children navigate these challenges. She also discusses the importance of culturally competent caregiving and how foster parents can embrace a child’s background rather than expecting them to conform.

Listen as we discuss:

• Why children in foster care seek out their biological families—no matter what
• The role of cultural competency in foster parenting
• How separation impacts a child’s sense of identity and belonging
• Ways to keep family connections strong, even during separation

This episode is for advocates, social workers, foster parents, and anyone committed to a child welfare system that centers family preservation and cultural identity.

Substance use is one of the most common reasons families become involved with the child welfare system. Advocates and professionals often face challenges in balancing child safety with the need to support parents in recovery.

In this episode, Dr. Bertie Thomas Jr., a licensed professional counselor and founder of Creative Change Counseling, joins the conversation to discuss substance use and its impact on families. He explains the importance of cultural competency in treatment, the role of harm reduction, and how the system can better support families without unnecessary separation.

Listeners will gain insight into how advocates can approach these cases with empathy, encourage meaningful engagement in treatment, and challenge punitive responses that may do more harm than good.

Tune in to learn more about how child welfare professionals can help families navigate recovery while working toward lasting solutions.

In Part 2 of our discussion on the family regulation system, we continue exploring the ways policies like theChild Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) have shaped child welfare into a system of surveillance, control, and punishment—particularly for Black families.

Angela Olivia Burton and Angeline Montauban return to share their insights on how compliance is often prioritized over family well-being, the role of psychological evaluations in prolonging separation, and the ways parents who assert their rights are often penalized. This conversation also touches on the growing calls forabolition and reinvesting in communities rather than foster care institutions.

Listen in as we discuss:

• The consequences of challenging the system as a parent
• How psychological evaluations are used to control outcomes
• Why compliance, not child well-being, is often the focus
• Steps toward dismantling harmful practices and building family-centered alternatives

This episode is foradvocates, legal professionals, and anyone working toward systemic change in child welfare.

🎧Tune in now. #FamilyPreservation #RepealCAPTA #AbolishASFA #ChildWelfareReform