Research documents the ways that policing, incarceration, and deportation influence the health of racialized, poor families in the U.S. However, we lack empirical analysis of the ways that family policing through the child welfare system affects health. In this paper, I review the literature on intersectional harms in carceral institutions to argue that the child welfare system is a social determinant of health. First, I provide a review of the ways carceral institutions target women of color through settler‐colonial logic and the criminalization of race, poverty, and reproduction. Second, I share what is known about carceral effects on health and the mechanisms by which they function: 1. stigma, 2. maternal stressors, and 3. threat. Third, I delve into how these mechanisms manifest within the child welfare system and underscore the importance of examining their adverse health consequences. I conclude with a discussion where I call for more research on the child welfare system as a social determinant of health to understand abolitionist healthcare practices that contribute to dismantling the expanding carceral state. Collectively, these areas of literature illustrate the U.S. child welfare system's role in a broader criminalization process that detrimentally impacts the health of impoverished mothers of color.

中文翻译：

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儿童福利制度作为健康的社会决定因素


研究记录了治安、监禁和驱逐出境如何影响美国种族化贫困家庭的健康。然而，我们缺乏对通过儿童福利制度进行的家庭治安影响健康的实证分析。在本文中，我回顾了有关监狱机构交叉伤害的文献，认为儿童福利制度是健康的社会决定因素。首先，我回顾了监狱机构通过定居者殖民逻辑以及对种族、贫困和生育的刑事定罪来针对有色人种女性的方式。其次，我分享已知的癌症对健康的影响及其发挥作用的机制：1. 耻辱，2. 母亲压力源，3. 威胁。第三，我深入研究了这些机制在儿童福利体系中的体现，并强调了检查其不利健康后果的重要性。最后，我呼吁对儿童福利制度作为健康的社会决定因素进行更多研究，以了解有助于消除不断扩大的监禁国家的废奴主义医疗保健实践。总的来说，这些领域的文献说明了美国儿童福利系统在更广泛的刑事定罪过程中所发挥的作用，该过程对贫困有色人种母亲的健康产生了不利影响。