U.S. Accountability Now! Resisting Family Surveillance, Control, and Policing

Tawanna Brown is a 22-year-old powerhouse advocate, mentor, coach, and motivational speaker with lived experience in the child welfare system. She is a proud graduate of Seton Hall University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Africana Studies and Political Science in just three years. Tawanna is also a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. Her advocacy journey began at just 15 years old, when she started writing and speaking about her experiences both as a source of healing and as a way to inspire others. Since then, Tawanna has become a nationally recognized voice for youth in the child welfare space, championing advocacy through webinars, panel discussions, radio appearances, and speaking engagements across the country. She takes immense pride in uplifting and mentoring young people who share experiences similar to her own. Tawanna spent two years serving on the New Jersey Department of Children and Families (DCF) Youth Council before transitioning into a coaching role to guide and support other youth leaders. She has also partnered with DCF on key initiatives, including consulting on the development of the Siblings’ Bill of Rights and contributing to policy recommendations aimed at improving outcomes for children in care. In January 2023, Governor Phil Murphy signed the Siblings’ Bill of Rights into law—a landmark step in child welfare policy that protects sibling bonds during foster care placements. Tawanna’s advocacy, alongside other advocates, was instrumental in this achievement, underscoring her commitment to driving systemic change and creating lasting impact in the lives of children and families. Most recently, Tawanna served as the Advocacy and Policy Fellow for the Arthur Gochman Fellowship at Children’s Rights, a national organization dedicated to protecting and advancing the rights of children. Her personal mantra is: “If your dreams don’t scare you, you aren’t dreaming big enough.” Outside of her professional work, Tawanna enjoys traveling, and trying new foods, —but most importantly, she finds joy in empowering the next generation of youth leaders.

Angela Olivia Burton is a community lawyer, scholar, and public servant with over thirty years of experience advocating for the rights of parents and children in the family policing system. Her commitment to social justice is driven by a deep understanding of the systemic inequities faced by vulnerable families. Angela has consistently fought to protect the human, constitutional, and civil rights of marginalized individuals, ensuring their voices are heard.

Jamil Dakwar is an international human rights lawyer and adjunct professor at New York University and Hunter College. Currently, he leads the American Civil Liberties Union’s Human Rights Program, which conducts research, litigation, and advocacy to hold the U.S. government accountable for its international human rights obligations and commitments. His expertise frequently appears in domestic and international media, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Reuters, AFP, The Hill, The Intercept, Middle East Eye, and Al Jazeera English. He serves as the ACLU’s main representative to the United Nations and leads the ACLU’s international advocacy before other regional and international bodies, including the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Notably, in 2004, Mr. Dakwar was one of the ACLU’s first observers to the military commission system at Guantanamo Bay. In 2025, he was reappointed as a member of the New York State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Prior to joining the ACLU, Mr. Dakwar worked at Human Rights Watch, where he conducted research, advocated, and published reports on issues of torture and detention in Egypt, Morocco, Israel, and Palestine. Before coming to the United States, he was a senior attorney with Adalah, a leading human rights group in Israel, where he filed and argued human rights cases before Israeli courts and advocated before international forums. Mr. Dakwar serves on the boards of several organizations, including the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP), and Adalah Justice Project (AJP). 

Terence Derrick, 28, is from Bronx, NY. Born in Staten Island and raised in the Bronx, NYC was the breeding ground for his company Galaxy Swimming in 2023, which he runs as the Director with his business partner. Terence has always been passionate about working with at risk youth, more recently providing them pathways to education and employment which has encapsulated his work for the past 12 years. While working in the community, Terence went on to pursue an IT degree in 2021 and continuing his community work with non- profits providing free digital literacy classes to youth. More recently, Terence has been involved in advocacy work to encourage change to the current ACS and Foster Care systems. 

Terence’s journey didn’t always look so linear, at a young age, Terence met the foster care system face to face. Bounced from home-to-home for no reason other than being driven deeper into anxiety, unknowing of what and who would come next. Terence didn’t let his experience in the foster care system shadow the impact he would have on young men in similar situations 20 years later. Now, through Galaxy Swimming, he is continuing to give back to his community.

Louie Gasper is a seasoned advocate and professional with over a decade of

experience in child welfare advocacy and consulting. Louie currently serves as a Senior Advisor to JMACforFamilies, where he is supporting the development of an Accountability Council focused on preventing harm and separation. Louie also supports the ABA’s Family Justice Initiative as a contract project manager where he spearheads projects including the development of a lived experience council and anti-racist legal learning series. Louie has served as a project manager and consultant to many initiatives primarily focused around racial equity, preventing separation and harm, and engaging impacted people with lived experience. 

Louie began his advocacy as a teenager, eventually leading youth advocacy chapters and policy work in California and Washington state. As the Jurisdictional Project Coordinator for the Children Bureau’s Capacity Building Center from 2021-2024, Louie managed eight state projects focused on prevention and racial equity. Louie has also worked as the Lead Advisor for HHS Equity Technical Assistance Center, Senior Advisor to the OPT-In prevention initiative, Project Manager to NACC’s “Exercise Your Rights” guide, and as a Fellow to Youth MOVE National. As somebody who once deeply partnered with the government and observed systemic harm on the micro-and-macro-level, Louie now works to dismantle and address the harms of the family policing system.

April Lee is a dedicated community activist based in Philadelphia, committed to supporting families affected by harmful systems, including the child welfare (family policing) system, the carceral system, and other structures that negatively impact her community.

As a founding member of Philly Voice also known as, Philly Voice for Change, April works to engage and mobilize community members and activists to push for systemic reforms. Her advocacy extends beyond Philadelphia, contributing to national efforts for justice and family preservation. She serves on the advisory boards of Stop Over reporting Our People (STOP), The Family Justice Law Center, United Family Advocates, and other initiatives aimed at dismantling oppressive systems.

April’s commitment to service is evident in every aspect of her life—whether feeding the homeless, facilitating life skills groups, mentoring women in her community, or caring for her own family. Beyond her activism, she has a deep passion for writing and has performed her poetry on numerous stages throughout Philadelphia and beyond.

Joyce McMillan is a thought leader, advocate, community organizer, educator, and the Founder and Executive Director of Just Making A Change for Families (JMACforFamilies).

Joyce’s mission is to remove systemic barriers in communities of color by bringing awareness to the racial disparities in systems where people of color are disproportionately affected. Her ultimate goal is to abolish systems of harm–especially the family policing system (or the so-called “child welfare system”)–while creating concrete community resources.

As the Founder of the Parent Legislative Action Network, Joyce leads a statewide coalition of impacted parents and young people, advocates, attorneys, social workers, and academics collaborating to effect systemic change in the family policing system. Joyce also currently serves on the board of the Women’s Prison Association and on the Advisory Committee for the Center for New York City Affairs at The New School, where she holds a visiting fellowship. As a visiting fellow, Joyce explores ways to strengthen parent voices in child welfare and has led a series of public events where panelists discuss both problems and suggested solutions.

Tatiana Rodriguez is the Executive Director of Family Matters First Inc. She is a first generation, Afro-Latina college graduate in social science. Throughout her life, she has experienced firsthand not knowing what foster home she would end up in, waking up in a shelter every day, and waking up without her son. Shortly after being a part of advocacy groups, Tatiana decided to start organizing other impacted parents and founded Family Matters First in 2020. She facilitates monthly peer support groups, legal workshops, advocacy meetings, protests, documentary storytelling, surveys, and community partnerships. Prior to founding FMF, Tatiana was doing participatory defense and working for the public school system, where she often witnessed the harms of mandated reporting and child requiring assistance cases. She has starred in two documentaries: “Broken” by Bill Lichenstein and “The Family Project” by Northeastern University.

David Shalleck-Klein is the Executive Director and Founder of the Family Justice Law Center. David had been an attorney at The Bronx Defenders in the Family Defense and Criminal Defense practices. David graduated magna cum laude and Order of the Coif from New York University School of Law, after which he clerked for the Honorable Tanya S. Chutkan of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. At NYU, David was a member of the Family Defense and Juvenile Defender clinics and was the recipient of the Christian Jarecki ’98 Memorial Prize for outstanding work and commitment in a law clinic. 

Shereen A. White is the Director of Advocacy and Policy at Children’s Rights (CR), where she promotes the fundamental right to family in partnership with communities, advocates, and organizations. Shereen is a former child advocate attorney at the Defender Association of Philadelphia and assistant general counsel representing the School District of Philadelphia. Under Shereen’s leadership, CR advances initiatives related to the family regulation system and the well-being of children across state, federal, and international arenas. In New York, CR co-facilitates the Mandated Reporting Working Group and supports Are You Listening?, a youth-led collaborative seeking to end institutional placements. Nationally, CR supports the Repeal CAPTA Coalition, advances immigration justice through the Children Thrive Action Network, and promotes equitable education through the Education for All Campaign. Internationally, CR has successfully petitioned two UN treaty bodies to hold the U.S. accountable for unjust and discriminatory separation by the U.S. child welfare system. In 2023, Shereen was selected as a United Nations OHCHR Fellow for People of African Descent and recognized as an Outstanding Legal Advocate by The National Association of Counsel for Children. Shereen earned a J.D. from Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law and her B.A. from Duke University.