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Our Story
Michelle Ng (nee Michelle Chan) is founder and director of California Families Rise, which evolved out of Parents Against CPS Corruption, or PACC, a Bay Area activist group. Michelle started PACC in 2016 after she uncovered that systemic issues of misconduct and inequities existed in the child protection system in San Francisco and beyond: routine violations of state and federal laws, implicit racism and bias, the absolute power, control, and coercion of parents trapped in the system, how the system seemed to prey off the poor and perpetuate trauma and poverty. At the time, Michelle had an open child protection cases. There was no one fighting on behalf of parents to ensure their rights and the rights of their children were upheld. It was a fool’s mission. Michelle launched an aggressive outreach campaign and two months later, with a handful of her peers, began protesting the San Francisco Superior Court almost daily, demanding the removal of Judge Nancy L. Davis. Shortly after their first protest on Valentine’s Day 2017, the San Francisco Bay View newspaper invited Michelle to become a regular contributor. Less than eight months after the inception of PACC, Judge Nancy L. Davis retired halfway before the end of her elected term. After PACC’s success in San Francisco, Michelle went on to build a movement in Contra Costa County. PACC’s membership grew to represent hundreds of system-impacted parents and family members. The March for Family Rights protests demanded the resignations of Judges Rebecca Hardie, Lois Haight, and Jill Fannin. After the protests, PACC filed three recall petitions against the judges. Volunteers donated their time on a daily basis for six months gathering signatures. Although the recalls were unsuccessful, the groups' efforts led to a Civil Grand Jury investigation and report on Contra Costa Children and Family Services that led to some reforms. PACC’s activism was also instrumental in the audit of the judge oversight agency- the Commission on Judicial Performance- and the adoption of new judicial ethics guidelines by the California Supreme Court. In 2020 at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the newly branded CFR advocated for Covid-19 state-wide juvenile court policies to increase access, increase visitation, and expedite reunification. In response, the California Supreme Court issued temporary blanket orders which provided clarity and expanded rights to California families.
Fight back against family court, attorney, and CPS corruption.
Under the new name, California Families Rise went on to rebuild the movement as a state-wide effort. In 2022, CFR sponsored SB 1055, which was passed into law. SB 1055 reduces the practice of suspending the driver's licenses of parents below the 70% median income for nonpayment of child support. Fight back against family court, attorney, and CPS corruption. In 2023, CFR hosted two successful rallies, which influenced policy reform and raised public awareness.
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From providing education to supporting health care initiatives, Families Rise offers a range of programs to support communities in need. Attend one a meeting learn more about our work.
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Find out how Families Rise has made a difference in the community and the lives of those we serve. We are committed to creating lasting change.
Forced separation of families and children by Family Courts and Child Protection Agencies is a tool of oppression and perpetuates injustice and harm upon marginalized communities. Communities of color, the poor, the incarcerated and formerly incarcerated, survivors of rape and sexual abuse, those without homes, those without support netwo
Forced separation of families and children by Family Courts and Child Protection Agencies is a tool of oppression and perpetuates injustice and harm upon marginalized communities. Communities of color, the poor, the incarcerated and formerly incarcerated, survivors of rape and sexual abuse, those without homes, those without support networks, parents with disabled children- are all vulnerable. Foster care is punishment. Foster care is cruel and unusual torture. Foster care is prison. End the incarceration of families. Rise up. Take back our children. We must end child protective services corruption and fight for court reform!
We are powerhouse movement builders that mobilize impacted families to fight for systemic change and implement policy reform. We seek to develop and uplift the communities we serve, to advocate for the preservation of families, the restoration of parental rights, and maintain family bonds during family separation. We must end child protective services corruption and fight for court reform!
Poor communities and especially those of color are disproportionately targeted by child welfare and family court services. Poverty and its effects DO NOT justify neglect nor should poor parents, unable to pay child support to the government, be jailed. Communities of color are reported on at far higher rates not because they abuse more of
Poor communities and especially those of color are disproportionately targeted by child welfare and family court services. Poverty and its effects DO NOT justify neglect nor should poor parents, unable to pay child support to the government, be jailed. Communities of color are reported on at far higher rates not because they abuse more often, but because they are over-policed and over-surveilled. Let's end this war on poverty and support families rather than destroying them. We must end child protective services corruption and fight for court reform!
ASFA, enacted in 1997, shifted the focus of the American child welfare system from family preservation to permanence, creating perverse incentives for states to remove children from their homes and adopt them out. The termination of parental rights is perpetual punishment not only for parents, but in many cases also for the children. This
ASFA, enacted in 1997, shifted the focus of the American child welfare system from family preservation to permanence, creating perverse incentives for states to remove children from their homes and adopt them out. The termination of parental rights is perpetual punishment not only for parents, but in many cases also for the children. This perpetual punishment is even more profound after release from prison, mothers come home to empty cribs and painful memories that never fade. Families belong together in order to sow justice, healing, kinship, and love. Rise up. Repeal ASFA. We must end child protective services corruption and fight for court reform!
Our mission is to preserve, strengthen, and uplift families by transforming systems of family policing: the child protection, family court, conservatorship, and child support systems.
These systems are grossly failing in their entrusted public roles as the protectors and saviors of children and families. CFR is dedicated to fighting on the front lines for the rights of systems-involved families, fighting behind the scenes for policy reform, creating narrative change to raise awareness and lift stigmas, advocating for holistic family well-being in state surveillance interventions, and fairness and justice in all court proceedings that impact children and families.
In addition to fulfilling our mission as a citizen watchdog group, CFR is also committed to giving a voice to and developing the leadership potential of impacted families and marginalized communities and to creating a peer-support network so that impacted families no longer have to live in isolation and feel ashamed.
Our leadership consists exclusively of those who have been impacted by the child welfare and/or criminal injustice systems. We - each of us survivors and fighters -truly understand that poverty and corruption are the beast that feeds the prison and foster care systems, that poverty and corruption are both the root and the endless perpetuation of these systems. Our leadership and membership base represents diverse backgrounds and come from all walks of life. And, we proudly base-build in the poorest areas and outreach to those on the very fringes of society: the extreme poor, the homeless, lgbtq, disabled and mentally-ill- because we believe that if we can inspire the most downtrodden in all of society to rise up and demand change, then we will have an army that will be unstoppable. We are determined. We never ever give up. We are California Rise (formerly Parents Against CPS Corruption). We must end child protective services corruption and fight for court reform!
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This is a chronicle of our past and ongoing efforts on the ground and in the media. We must end child protective services corruption and fight for court reform!