Print Events
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Torn Apart: How the Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families, and How Abolition Can Build a Safer World
April 5, 2022 - 12:00pm to 1:00pm
In her new book Torn Apart, award-winning scholar Dorothy Roberts exposes the foundational racism of the child welfare system and calls for radical change. In conversation with the founding director of the University of Michigan Center for Racial Justice, Celeste Watkins-Hayes, Professor Roberts will share more on her book, and her belief that the only way to stop the destruction caused by family policing is to abolish the child welfare system and liberate Black communities.
This virtual event will have a live watch party in Weill Hall, Room 1110. A free copy of Professor Roberts' book, Torn Apart, will be provided for attendees at the viewing party on a first-come first-serve basis.
This event is hosted by the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and the Center for Racial Justice, with support from the University of Michigan School of Social Work and Poverty Solutions.
About Torn ApartMany believe the child welfare system protects children from abuse. But as Torn Apart uncovers, this system is designed to punish Black families. Drawing on decades of research, legal scholar and sociologist Dorothy Roberts reveals that the child welfare system is better understood as a “family policing system” that collaborates with law enforcement and prisons to oppress Black communities. Child protection investigations ensnare a majority of Black children, putting their families under intense state surveillance and regulation. Black children are disproportionately likely to be torn from their families and placed in foster care, driving many to juvenile detention and imprisonment.
About Dorothy RobertsDorothy Roberts is the 14th Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor and George A. Weiss University Professor of Law and Sociology at University of Pennsylvania, with joint appointments in the Departments of Africana Studies and Sociology and the Law School, where she is the inaugural Raymond Pace and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Professor of Civil Rights. She is also founding director of the Penn Program on Race, Science & Society. An internationally recognized scholar, public intellectual, and social justice activist, Roberts has written and lectured extensively on the interplay of race, gender, and class inequities in U.S. institutions and has been a leader in transforming thinking on reproductive justice, child welfare, and bioethics. She is author of Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty (1997); Shattered Bonds: The Color of Child Welfare (2001); and Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-First Century (2011), as well as more than 100 articles and book chapters, including “Race” in the 1619 Project. Her latest book, Torn Apart: How the Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families—And How Abolition Can Build a Safer World, released by Basic Books in April 2022, culminates 25 years of investigating racism in family policing and calls for a radically reimagined way to support children and their families.
Roberts has served on the boards of directors of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Black Women’s Health Imperative, and National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, and her work has been supported by the American Council of Learned Societies, National Science Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Fulbright Program, Harvard Program on Ethics & the Professions, and Stanford Center for the Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity. Recent recognitions of her work include 2019 Honorary Doctor of Law Degree, Rutgers University-Newark, 2017 election to the National Academy of Medicine, 2016 Society of Family Planning Lifetime Achievement Award, and 2015 American Psychiatric Association Solomon Carter Fuller Award.
Accessibility accommodationsWe're committed to accessibility and want our event to accommodate your full participation. Please let us know as early as possible about any accommodations we can help facilitate.
Address: 1110 Weill Hall 735 S. State Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109 -
Building Blocks of Resilience for Maltreated Children
April 6, 2022 - 9:00am to 12:15pm
This course will examine the developmental underpinnings of resilience and positive coping in maltreated children. Content will combine current findings from research with policy and practice implications and strategies.
Registration for this course is closed. Visit the CE Course Catalog for more offerings.
Room: online
Address: -
For Admitted Students - Connect Virtually with a Current MSW Student!
April 6, 2022 - 12:30pm to 1:30pm
Congratulations! Newly admitted MSW Students can connect virtually with Current MSW students regarding the MSW program!
What's the program really like? Where is your field placement? What do social work students do for fun? What is Ann Arbor like in the Winter? Join an MSW student as well as other admitted MSW students for a live webchat about the School of Social Work. Our MSW students are excited to answer any questions that you have and share their feedback about the program.
Address: Online -
Modern Day Slavery: Social Work & The Caste System in India
April 6, 2022 - 5:00pm to 6:30pm
One in every 200 people in the world are in slavery. Among the bonded laborers, a South Indian scheduled tribe called “Irula” (which means “darkness”) is categorized as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) by the Indian government.
Recently, a movie titled Jai Bhim was released describing the plight of the “Irula” tribal community, which gives a deeper understanding of the undocumented community in India. Join Dr. Prince Solomon, who has worked with released bonded laborers for several years, as he unfolds the existing caste system in India and its impact on modern-day slavery. Dr. Solomon is a U-M SSW Visiting Scholar from Madras Christian College in India.
This event is sponsored by the Office of Global Activities, the Community Action for Social Change (CASC) minor, the Center for South Asian Studies (CSAS), and the Edward Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Learning.
Individual boxed dinners will be provided. Zoom option is also available.
Topic: Modern Day Slavery: Social Work & The Caste System in India
Time: Apr 6, 2022 05:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)Join Zoom Meeting
https://umich.zoom.us/j/91922561716Meeting ID: 919 2256 1716
Passcode: 858475Room: 1840
Address: University of Michigan School of Social Work 1080 South University Avenue Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1106 -
Social Justice through the Arts
April 7, 2022 - 12:00pm to 1:30pm
Theater, music, storytelling, poetry, and other art forms have a powerful way of connecting with individuals, relaying social issues and oppression in a way that enables others to envision themselves experiencing it - allowing for more empathy and understanding. Join us in talking to local artists, scholars, and activists who have used the arts to fight injustice and achieve social change. Speakers include Satori Shakoor, renowned storyteller, actress, and founder of Detroit’s The Secret Society Of Twisted Storytellers; and Gary Anderson, Producing Artistic Director of the Plowshares Theatre Company. This session will be moderated by Dr. Rogério Pinto, Associate Dean for Research and Innovation of the School of Social Work, and Professor of Theater and Drama of the School of Music, Theater & Dance. Dr. Pinto spearheads the School of Social Work's Art-Based Social Justice Collective.
Event RecordingAddress: Online -
The Storytellers Series
April 7, 2022 - 12:00pm to 2:00pm
Song as the StorytellerLast of the Three-part workshop series in creative storytelling.
Please register for the in-person session.
An intimate concert and workshop that will take place in room 1840 of the SSW building.
Room: 1840
Address: University of Michigan School of Social Work 1080 South University Avenue Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1106 -
Creating an Equitable Healthcare System for Adolescents and Young Adults Living with Cancer: Overcoming Unique Bio-Psycho-Social-Spiritual Challenges
April 7, 2022 - 1:00pm to 2:00pm
This presentation attends to the health disparity and its related factors among adolescents and young adults (AYAs) diagnosed with cancer. AYA cancer survivors, including those receiving active cancer treatment and post-treatment survivorship care, is an age-defined group that experiences disproportional impact by their cancer diagnosis and numerous unique biopsychosocial challenges. The presentation will start by offering an overview of AYA cancer survivorship at the national level, followed by a focused discussion on key disparities that exist in this population. Efforts at the national level and local level, i.e., University of Michigan, will be discussed. A multi-level approach will be introduced to achieve health equity among AYA cancer survivors, including an example of a Curtis Center SPI collaborating with the Adolescents and Young Adults Oncology Program at University of Michigan Health.
Address: University of Michigan School of Social Work 1080 South University Avenue Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1106 -
International Student Coffee Hour
April 8, 2022 - 5:00pm to 6:00pm
The Office of Global Activities hosts a bi-weekly coffee hour for all international students and visitors in the School of Social Work. In this coffee hour, we will be celebrating our international students who are graduating this semester. Join us to connect with them, celebrate their achievements, listen to and ask about their experiences at the School of Social Work, and learn about their plans moving forward. This will be a hybrid event, so attendees will have the option to participate in person or via Zoom.
Session RecordingRoom: Room 1636
Address: University of Michigan School of Social Work 1080 South University Avenue Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1106 -
Decolonizing Social Work from a Local and Global Lens
April 11, 2022 - 2:00pm to 3:30pm
Join the Global Social Work Practice Pathway and the Office of Global Activities in this panel discussion to highlight the contributions of community organizers and leaders across local and global contexts who are utilizing decolonizing and social justice-oriented perspectives to promote climate justice and refugee rights and to address health disparities among Indigenous populations.
The panel discussion will be hosted via Zoom and recorded for redistribution. The discussion will be moderated by Dr. Ashley Cureton. Panelists include:
Melanie Minuche (she/her), Climate Justice Organizer at Alianza Americas
Allan Mukuki (he/him), Director of International Partnerships; PhD Candidate with a focus on refugee protection in the East African community at Strathmore University Law School
Nicole Reed, MPH, CHES (she/her), Senior Professional Research Assistant at the University of Colorado Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health
Address: University of Michigan School of Social Work 1080 South University Avenue Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1106 -
For Prospective Students - Connect Virtually with a Current MSW Student!
April 12, 2022 - 7:00pm to 8:00pm
What's the program really like? Where is your field placement? What do social work students do for fun? Join an MSW student as well as other prospective MSW students for a live webchat about the School of Social Work. Our MSW students are excited to answer any questions that you have and share their feedback about the program.
Address: Online