CPS Targets Disabled Parents: A System Built on Misunderstanding and Discrimination

For decades families led by parents with disabilities have been unfairly targeted by Child Protective Services. Across California the Department of Children and Family Services has punished parents who are deaf blind or living with physical or intellectual disabilities. The very system meant to protect children has instead destroyed families who did nothing wrong except live with a disability.

The truth is simple. Being disabled does not make a parent dangerous. Discrimination does.

The Deaf Community Silenced and Misunderstood

In 1999 Judith Ellen Lux revealed how social workers in California lacked even basic understanding of Deaf culture and communication practices (Lux, 1999). Her research showed that Deaf parents were often treated as unfit simply because social workers could not communicate with them properly. Many Deaf parents were denied interpreters during investigations or meetings and were misunderstood as angry or neglectful when they were simply signing.

Lux warned that this ignorance violates civil rights and creates wrongful child removals. Deaf parents who also belong to racial or ethnic minorities face additional discrimination and cultural bias.

Her conclusion remains clear today. The problem is not Deaf parents. The problem is a system that refuses to listen.

Disabled Parents Are Overrepresented in CPS

A 2024 study by Traci LaLiberte Kristine Piescher Nicole Mickelson and Mi Hwa Lee confirmed what families have known for years. Parents with disabilities are investigated more often removed from their children more often and lose their parental rights more often than parents without disabilities (LaLiberte, et. al., 2024).

This is not because of evidence of abuse or neglect. It happens because the system is built on bias. Many child welfare agencies still operate under the medical model of disability which sees disability as a defect. The social model of disability explains the truth. Society’s barriers and prejudice cause inequality not the person’s condition.

Until DCFS statewide understands that disability is not danger disabled parents will continue to suffer under policies created by ignorance and fear.

Federal Law ADA and Section 504

Federal law makes it crystal clear that discrimination against parents with disabilities is illegal.

Under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act 42 United States Code sections 12131 through 12134 state and local agencies must provide equal access to programs and services for people with disabilities. That means effective communication reasonable accommodations and changes to policies that create unfair treatment.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act 29 United States Code section 794 says that no qualified person with a disability can be excluded from or denied participation in any program receiving federal funding. Every Department of Children and Family Services office in California receives federal money. That means every office must follow this law.

They must provide certified interpreters for Deaf parents. They must modify assessments and classes for parents with intellectual disabilities. They must make sure home visits and meetings are accessible. Failure to do these things is not a simple mistake. It is a civil rights violation.

When CPS breaks these laws it breaks families. When DCFS fails to follow the ADA it commits government discrimination. These violations are not isolated. They are part of a statewide pattern of abuse against disabled families.

A Statewide Shame DCFS Must Be Held Accountable

DCFS across California cannot claim to protect children while ignoring federal law and destroying families. The people of this state deserve to see the truth. A system that punishes parents for being disabled is a system that has lost its purpose.

To every DCFS office in California we say this:

You have a choice. Admit your failures and correct them or face public outrage federal enforcement and full exposure of the truth.

We demand:

1. A public statewide audit showing how many CPS investigations removals and terminations involved parents with disabilities.

2. Immediate mandatory ADA and Section 504 training for all employees in every DCFS office.

3. Required use of certified interpreters and accessible communication methods in every case involving a Deaf or disabled parent.

4. Review and correction of wrongful child removals based primarily on disability status.

5. A public apology from the State of California acknowledging decades of discrimination and harm.

   
   

These are not suggestions. They are legal obligations under federal law. Every day of delay is another violation of civil rights.

The Call for Justice

Legal scholar Robyn Powell wrote that the child welfare system is not broken. It is functioning exactly as it was built to function to control and punish marginalized parents especially those with disabilities (Powell, 2022). Her abolitionist approach calls for the creation of a new model built on community support and dignity instead of surveillance and punishment.

Families with disabilities deserve real help not judgment. They deserve equal treatment under the law. They deserve to raise their children free from fear.

Because when CPS violates the ADA it violates the Constitution.

When DCFS ignores Section 504 it commits an act of state discrimination.

And when the government destroys families because of disability it exposes itself to the eyes of the entire nation.

Justice is coming and the truth will not be silenced any longer.

References

LaLiberte, T., Piescher, K., Mickelson, N., & Lee, M. H. (2024). The overrepresentation of parents with disabilities in child protection. Children and Youth Services Review, 158, 107446. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2024.107446

Lux, J. E. (1999). An exploratory study of child protective services social worker knowledge of the culture of the deaf (Master’s thesis, California State University, San Bernardino). California State University, San Bernardino.

Powell, R. M. (2022). Achieving justice for disabled parents and their children: An abolitionist approach. Yale Journal of Law and Feminism, 33(2), 37–109.

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12131–12134 (1990).

Rehabilitation Act of 1973, § 504, 29 U.S.C. § 794 (1973).