Abstract
Abolitionist perspectives are gaining prominence in US child protection. These perspectives provide a critique of the child protection system, with reference to social harms, administrative burdens and the racist legacy of targeting Black and Brown families living in poverty, while doing little to address the social causes of harm. This movement draws on the rich vein of abolitionist thinking in criminology, arguing that the carceral logics of surveillance and imprisonment in child welfare revolve around punitive risk and reputation management, rather than improving the lives of children, parents and communities (Roberts, 2002).