Introducing Justice in Action

Dear Friend,

As the City reopens and our lives return to a new normal, CFR’s work for justice continues. Our attorneys, social work staff and parent advocates never stopped advocating for families and youth being investigated and prosecuted by the family regulation and the juvenile justice systems. Throughout the pandemic and now as the courts reopen, we work to keep families together, avoiding foster care and juvenile incarceration that traumatizes and harms Black and Brown families and youth.

This message is the first edition of our new e-newsletter – Justice in Action. We will be reaching out to you a few times a year with this email to update you on our work and to inform you about our anti-racist work for systemic change in the laws and policies that govern our justice systems. Today we share our 2021 policy platform, which lists the legislation we support that will benefit our clients as they seek a fairness and equality in the justice systems that currently oppress them. We also encourage you to read our Anti-Asian Violence statement – written by our AANHPI staff last summer, and updated last week in response to the horrific violence being directed at the AANHPI community in our City and the nation.

Last but not least, we are excited to share our new website with you: cfrny.org. We designed it to better communicate about our work and impact with you – our supporters – while also reaching out to families in crisis with information and resources.

Thank you for all that you do to support our work and to share in our conviction that Every Family Matters.

Michele Cortese
Executive Director

Going for a morning stroll.
Walking around the neighborhood park.
Opening the door for a customer.
Clocking in and out of work.

These are the daily, mundane activities that Vicha Ratanapakdee, Ee Lee, Yong Ae Yue, Amarjeet Kaur Johal, Amarjit Sekhon, Jasvinder Kaur, and Jaswinder Singh were engaging in when they were murdered. For too many Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islanders (AANHPI), stepping out the front door and entering public spaces means confronting the fear that they could be the next victim.

At CFR, we are defenders that have seen up close the disastrous consequences of disproportionately investing in law enforcement and prisons in furtherance of public policy that criminalizes poverty and race as a way of addressing social problems. CFR continues to stand alongside our AANHPI staff, our AANHPI clients, our neighbors in Manhattan’s Chinatown and Jamaica, Queens, and all AANHPI communities fighting for justice and liberation.

Read our Statement

CFR's Policy Platform: CFR has identified the following core values and principles to guide CFR’s policy team in making future decisions and determining its legislative priorities. CFR is committed to:

Supporting anti-racist policies that reduce and seek to eliminate the harm of the family regulation, criminal, delinquency, immigration, and housing systems
Providing and increasing access to justice regardless of race, immigration status, or income
Amplifying the voices and choices of BIPOC parents, youth, families, and communities
Maintaining family stability by reducing incarceration and involvement with the family regulation and juvenile justice systems, and improving continuity of care and access to services

Our 2021 Priorities:

Supporting communities to access services and protect family integrity without surveillance, fear, or intrusion
Increasing access to legal services
Criminal and delinquency reforms
Increase housing security
Ensure pandemic does not negatively impact our client’s legal rights

Read our Platform

Teyora Graves, Senior Parent Advocate at CFR, is interviewed and quoted in The Imprint article entitled, “As New York Legalizes Marijuana, Parent Advocates Push Child Welfare Agencies to Adapt”.

Here is one of Teyora’s quotes from the article:

“Meanwhile, parent advocates say courts are too quick to blame a parent’s marijuana use for other concerns — a child’s late arrival to school, dirty clothes or missed doctor’s appointment. “It’s always assumed that the reason things are happening in a family is because of the use of marijuana.””

Read our News

Together we can make an #IMPACT. Your generosity helps support the families and youth we serve everyday.

Your donation is an investment in Black and Brown parents and youth and helping their families stay together.

Copyright © 2021 Center for Family Representation, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
40 Worth Street, Suite 605, New York, NY 10013

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