A Podcast About Racial Disparities in the Child Welfare System
TornExplore systemic inequities in child welfare with Sonia Johnson, Esq. and Classie Colinet, Esq., seasoned defense attorneys dedicated to empowering advocates and parents for meaningful reform.
Hosted By
Sonia Johnson, Esq. and Classie Colinet Esq.
About Sonia
Sonia Johnson is a trailblazing attorney dedicated to transforming the child welfare system. Currently serving with the New Jersey Public Defender’s Office, Sonia specializes in defending parents in child welfare and termination of parental rights proceedings. Her passion for ensuring fairness and equity in the legal system is evidenced by her vigorous advocacy against the overreliance on psychological evaluations and her calls to reform legal standards.
Sonia’s commitment to social justice extends beyond her current role. Her career began as a litigation associate at a prominent Boston firm, where she honed her trial advocacy and negotiation skills and began providing pro bono services to vulnerable clients facing eviction.
About Classie
Currently, she serves as the Deputy Executive Director of an organization dedicated to social and climate justice, concentrating on delivering essential resources to often marginalized Black communities.
Listen to the Podcast
The Torn podcast explores the inequities present in the existing child welfare system.
Our hosts, Sonia Johnson, Esq. and Classie Colinet, Esq. have over 15 years combined working as defense attorneys in the child welfare system.
Their goals are to advocate for the complete overhaul of the current system, provide advocates with tools that can help them better advocate for families, and provide parents who are currently caught up in the system with information to help level the playing field.
Advocacy
Resources
The Problem with “Reasonable Efforts”: Why the Bar for Family Reunification Is Still Too Low
When it comes to child welfare cases, there’s one phrase that gets tossed around frequently—but rarely scrutinized: reasonable efforts. On paper, it’s a legal standard designed to protect families. Agencies are required to make reasonable efforts to avoid removing...
What You Need to Know About “Rule-Out” Letters in Child Welfare
When families are involved with the child welfare system, one of the most urgent questions is: Where will the children go? Too often, relatives and close family friends who step forward to provide care are turned away with little explanation. In many cases, they...
The Impact of Court-Ordered Psychological Evaluations in Child Welfare Cases
In the child welfare system, families often find themselves at the mercy of court-ordered psychological evaluations—assessments that can determine the fate of parental rights and family unity. In this article, Classie Colinet and Maling Miranda examine the role of...
What Drives Us
Our Mission
To shine a light on the injustices within the child welfare system by equipping families and advocates with knowledge, tools, and strategies to drive meaningful change—so that every child can remain connected to their family, community, and culture, and every family has the opportunity to thrive.