Roxanna Asgarian
@strawburriez
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Independent journalist writing about child welfare & the law. WE WERE ONCE A FAMILY @fsgbooks . roxannafaye @gmail .com
Dallas, Texas
Joined September 2009
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Last Seen Profiles
Pinned Tweet
Wow. I loved this review! An honor to read the thoughts of the great
@bobkolker
.
The great
@bobkolker
reviews a riveting, grim and important new book, "We Were Once a Family"
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One of the reasons the fall of Roe is so scary is because the medical industrial complex is already dehumanizing and needlessly cruel. That’s why this shit is happening right away, without healthcare providers even being legally compelled.
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Additional context on the importance of this medication for some patients.
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5 years ago today, Jennifer & Sarah Hart drove their 6 Black adoptive children—Markis, Hannah, Abigail, Devonte, Jeremiah & Ciera—off a California cliff, killing them. I hope, through the book, more people learn about the kids, their families, & the system they were up against.
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For
@nymag
, I wrote about a Michigan mom who lost custody of her children for supporting her middle child’s gender exploration.
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For the
@washingtonpost
, I wrote about Dontay Davis, the surviving older brother of three of the Hart children who were killed by their adoptive moms in March 2018.
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I think it's a good time to reshare this story. Since I wrote it, I have heard from two more moms in a different state who experienced something similar. I'm not done reporting this ... but Katee's story gives a window into what child removal from affirming parents looks like.
For
@nymag
, I wrote about a Michigan mom who lost custody of her children for supporting her middle child’s gender exploration.
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Kevin Federline got a restraining order against Jamie Spears on behalf of his and Britney’s son, who was physically assaulted by his grandfather. The obvious question is why is a person with a restraining order against him able to be a conservator of another person??
“I want to press charges for abuse,” she said of her father, adding that she wanted a restraining order.
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Looking back at my notes of a call with a Native woman re: adoption. Had a great convo about the issue, but when it came to her personal story, she said, "I don't trust you to write it." I have so much respect for that boundary; more people should know that's an option for them.
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For
@Slate
, I wrote about why it’s been so easy for Abbott and Paxton to weaponize CPS against trans kids. (Hint: The system was set up to surveil families who aren’t middle class and white)
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The amount of broke I am right now in the midst of professional accolades is truly mind boggling. It’s hard to talk about without sounding like a dick but it’s real and it’s getting me down.
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Right. And there is money to pay teachers well, and to supply their students with basic needs. If we acknowledge there IS money for whatever we choose to prioritize, maybe we can sway our governments to provide it for the right things.
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Gotta be honest, the sad, dead plants around Houston—in what is normally full-blown spring—is really bumming me out.
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To me this seals the deal that the word “groomer” — an incredibly useful word for understanding a major component of childhood sexual abuse — has been fully co-opted out of mainstream existence by the right. It’s so fucked up to watch that happen in real time and *on purpose.*
Please read the marvelous, sensitive, and bold new
@APStylebook
guide to transgender coverage and other LGBTQ+ issues. Then follow it.
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Parents & kids make lots of decisions that potentially affect the rest of a kid’s life. Moving, changing schools, divorce, traumatic experiences, illness, & on & on & on. It’s a weird argument to act like decisions trans kids and their parents make are uniquely irreversible.
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@wife_geist
@WB_Baskerville
The original tweet seriously depressed me but this brought me all the way back to life, thank you for your service
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Every year there are several stories about how much women have to do around the holidays and how much it sucks. This is completely self-imposed. No one is forcing you to send a holiday card. Go lay down!
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Did you know Texas kinship caregivers get less than half the amount foster parents receive to care for children who’ve been removed from their parents?
@snehadey_
on the bill that would finally equalize these payments
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This was my whole team—the two longest tenured reporters at the Trib and one of the most respected editors in the business. I’m shocked at this choice. This is a mistake.
Two of the greatest journalists I’ve ever had the privilege of working with.
@alexazura
@jsmccullou
We were all laid off today as
@TexasTribune
attempts to reverse financial and leadership tailspin.
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This is an important point. Three weeks at the very beginning of a newborn’s life is a really long time. A huge disruption in nursing if that was taking place; a bond rupture at a crucial time for baby & mom.
Baby taken from Texas couple after home birth will be returned by Dallas court - and the predictive life-long harm caused by this separation at such a crucial time is devastating. This family, and this child can never get back, but was taken from them.
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If what we are saying is that writing just has to be subsidized — by a rich person (or their foundation), a spouse, or the government — what does it mean for the challenging work, the systemic stuff, the work that implicates the people whose good grace we rely on for lump sums?
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Today is pub day for We Were Once A Family: Love, Death, and Child Removal in America. At
@TexasTribune
, you can read an excerpt now.
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I may be in the minority but when I smell weed in public, it makes me happy that someone is having a nice time.
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Ahhhh! My book just got a starred review from
@PublishersWkly
: “Sensitive, impassioned, and eye-opening, this is a must-read.” 😭
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“The idea that people are being pressured to be trans in a world that has such unrelenting pressure to be cis is absurd,”
@chasestrangio
said. “Most of the time, what you have are parents who reject their children in one way or another… this is usually how it works.”
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One more thing: People with lived experience are actually experts in how policy works in real life. They have so much to add to the conversation outside of detailing their most traumatic experiences.
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I really do struggle with how much the concept of children incites people to care, but how little the plight of actual human children seems to do that.
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Finn (a pseudonym) is turning 11 now, and said that although his mom encouraged him by telling him “It’s okay if you are” trans, he wants to make clear: “I chose. No one else. No one made me. No one forced me.”
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This doesn’t address why the two reporters eliminated focused on marginalized communities. Or why the development and fundraising teams up to now have literally been famous for raising adequate funding.
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In October 2017, Anna Borkowski woke up at her friend’s apartment after a night of drinking, in pain & with only terrifying fragments of memory from the night before. She went immediately to the police. Within 24 hours, her sexual assault case was closed.
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I believe in centering the experiences of the people most affected, but it feels icky to go in search of traumatic anecdotes to illustrate a point. My job as a journalist is to find a way to be compelling; it's not to extract trauma from people.
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The other question is why is domestic violence, the literal reddest flag there is, often glossed over or left unmentioned, when it is the most pertinent thing to the issue at hand?
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Some big professional news to share: I’m writing a book!
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The book comes out March 14! Here’s where I’ll be over the next couple months. Mark your calendars; I’d love to see you!
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Kim Ogg and Ed Emmett in deep convo over coffee at Throughgood right now 👀
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"No need for unions, we're like family!" *fires everyone with no warning & removes every trace of job's existence*
Journalists have to protect themselves from bad owners. Our career's work should not vanish, with no warning, in a single email.
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The father of the youngest two, Chris, was found in psychological evaluations to be unsupportive of his child’s gender exploration. There’s also a documented history of domestic violence against Katee by Chris. Despite that, the kids were placed in his custody.
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If you can’t even consider children’s feelings, needs and identities as actual people, you should definitely not be reporting on kids.
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And seriously, if I’m struggling like this amid once in a career type success, how many people are giving up right now?
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There’s no reason to test anyone for marijuana.
There’s no reason to test Olympic athletes for marijuana.
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Now that Tammy’s story is out, I’d like to say a few things about the process of reporting on these families. Here is that story:
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Think of how many young reporters are you discouraging with that terrible “gifted kid/theater kid/eldest child” venn diagram. Come ye potheads, ye contrarians, ye children who hate being told what to do!
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People mad about a country version of Fast Car need to realize Tracy Chapman is getting paid right now. It’s the I Will Always Love You effect—you write a song that transcends genres and people connect with it for decades. As it should be.
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Lots of "unthinkable" and "unbelievable" being thrown around. Not only is child sexual assault common, it's also the media standard to handle such cases by casting doubt or blame on the victim (when we're not ignoring it altogether). Remember this?
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The key thing here is, *it's already happening.* It's not just threats. It needs to be taken extremely seriously.
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No one’s saying it, but whatever they are doing to the Texas Observer is a damn shame! They had a fuckin all-star lineup.
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The book took *so much out of me.* But one of the hardest parts of those five years was struggling to pay my bills the whole time. If not for Paul, I could not have done it.
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In a small town in Maine, four separate lawsuits allege that two cops sexually abused minors — and that the police department covered it up, allowing abuse to continue for decades. My latest for
@theappeal
.
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The other commonality these parents' stories share is the presence of an unaffirming father, & a spectrum of abuse/domestic violence towards his partner. What is playing out in private custody cases is likely to get much worse with the ability to weaponize the state to step in.
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@prisonculture
My book, about the inhumanity of the child welfare system as told through the story of the Hart family, is up your alley, and was blurbed by the GOAT herself,
@DorothyERoberts
. Out in March.
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Strangio said there’s been an increase in custody cases involving parents who are split over affirming a trans child. “Obviously, to have the state come in and act this way is even more of a disturbance in many ways,”
@chasestrangio
said. “And it's alarming.”
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Clare County CPS brought a case against Katee Churchill in late 2014. They argued that Katee was pushing her son to ID as trans. A judge ruled that she did not abuse or neglect her kids. But her nightmare was not over.
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I have the name of a law firm committed to taking trans kids and their families’ cases. If you need this, DM me and I will share.
Among the many awful things about this is how it prevents families from speaking up because doing so could make them the target of an investigation.
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I gotta say
@TheCut
made my dream come true in this photo illo by giving me Patty Mayonnaise hair 🤣
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Ooooh baby, just got my advance check and paid off all the debt I incurred in this process! 😭🙌🏼🥳
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A year later, Clare County brought another case against Katee. This time, prosecutors requested a jury trial in the rural, conservative county. This time, they took her three children.
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Today it’s been four years since the Hart family crash. I haven’t seen the Atlanta episode yet, but it’s interesting to see people talking and learning about it again.
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Think about the actual human children who were killed. We don’t have to keep writing things the same way, keep prioritizing the same hierarchies. We need to make people care enough about the injustice of the system if we are ever going to have any chance of changing it.
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Now that this Texas story is out, I am gonna do a thread of my links about trans kids in the child welfare system. I worked the longest on this one. It ties what’s happening right now to years of anti-lgbtq policies targeting kids in foster care.
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@andreagrimes
I have a milk friend — she ordered a glass of milk after dinner at a fancy steakhouse and we clowned on her mercilessly 🤣
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When you and one of the best investigative reporters you know are seriously discussing selling feet pics (“we should have gotten into it ten years ago” lmao) you know your industry is broken 🫠
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Now is a good time to bring this up: CHILD WELFARE SHOULD BE A BEAT! All these intersecting crises, and many reporters jumping in piecemeal don't understand the full context. Yet I'm over here waiting for pieces I have long known to be important to be greenlit by pubs.
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So excited to start!
The
@TexasTribune
is proud to welcome three new reporters!
@strawburriez
will cover law and courts.
@RobDownenChron
will cover challenges to democracy.
@alereports
will cover environment.
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I want to live my life in a way so as not to leave a long trail of people behind me that hate my guts for years. 🤷🏻♀️
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Some professional news: It's back to the freelance life for me. My last day at the Texas Tribune is April 28. It's been a pleasure learning from a team of ace reporters and great editors, and I'll always be a fan. Please support them!
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Would love to see more outlets prioritize child welfare/juvenile justice as a beat. Or even “children & families” that is more about policy and access and less about wealthy white people.
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Omg y’all, here it is. The cover is out! We Were Once A Family publishes on March 14, 2023, but it looks like you can get a discount on
@Bookshop_Org
if you smash that preorder now.
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All my friends around the country sending me pics of my book in airports is giving me major feels 😭
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@washingtonpost
@socialworkwill
In much of the coverage of the Hart family murders, Dontay was not even mentioned. But he and his family live with the loss of Devonte, Jeremiah and Ciera every day.
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So honored to join a short list of some of the reporters I most respect in winning this award! Doubly meaningful because I know the caliber of our alumni is top notch. CUNY forever.
The Stephen B. Shepard Prize for Investigative Reporting goes to
@strawburriez
‘11, who concentrated in Urban Reporting, for her compelling in-depth stories about the failures of the child welfare system in Texas. Launched in 2017, the prize is supported by
@TowFdn
!
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My husband supported this book process by shouldering parenting while I left on like ten different weeklong reporting/writing trips. He also carried the load when I couldn’t get out of bed. And paid the bills. 🥹 (yeah, he’s the best.)
Plz send heartwarming stories of straight male partners supporting your creative endeavors. Hungry for a story that isn't "I achieved unprecedented professional success and my relationship was never the same."
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Wow! I’m honestly kind of overwhelmed at the moment so forgive my lack of eloquence, but really appreciate this smart review.
Have you guys ever heard of an internet website called the New Yorker dot com, well anyway they said "We Were Once A Family" by
@strawburriez
is a "moving and superbly reported book."
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After a judge ruled that Anna’s lawsuit against Baltimore County Police and the State’s Attorney’s Office can proceed, she is telling her story for the first time.
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So incredibly stoked about this! Thanks to
@columbiajourn
and
@niemanfdn
for the great honor.
Congrats to 2022 Lukas Work-in-Progress Award winner Roxanna Asgarian!
Photo credit: Michael Starghill
@strawburriez
@fsgbooks
#LukasPrizes
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The Texas Supreme Court just ruled that Harris County can tally the votes cast during the court-ordered extra hour of voting when it certifies election results today. Paxton had asked yesterday for these votes to be discarded.
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I understand that this messy social media migration is necessary, but I’m still deeply embarrassed for all of us right now.
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Popping on because I got my gorgeous paperbacks in the mail! 🤩 They’ll be out March 12.
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@washingtonpost
@socialworkwill
“I was like, fuck life. Fuck God,” he said when he found out. “That was the last little hope I had in my life, you know? I had that hope that I was gonna see my little brothers again, one day we gon' kick it.”
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I start my new job as the law and courts reporter at Texas Tribune Monday! I will be focused on civil courts, with a focus on the Attorney General's office, the Fifth Circuit, important class actions, the Texas Supreme Court, and Texas judges. (Lots more, too!)
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The 5th Circuit is about to convene their whole panel of judges to rehear a case about a Laredo citizen journalist who got harassed and arrested for releasing information cops didn’t want public. I wrote about it here.
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What an honor! 🤩
The 2024
#ALA_Carnegie
Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction Shortlist is here! Please join us in celebrating these six finalists and be sure to mark your calendars when the two winners are announced on January 20 during
#LibLearnX24
! 🏅➡️
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@washingtonpost
@socialworkwill
You can find more of my coverage on the birth families of Devonte, Jeremiah and Ciera, and of Markis, Hannah and Abigail, here.
Now that Tammy’s story is out, I’d like to say a few things about the process of reporting on these families. Here is that story:
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@washingtonpost
Dontay’s family knew how badly he wanted to reunite with his siblings, who he hadn’t seen in more than a decade, and they were worried about what he’d do when he found out. They didn’t want to jeopardize his chances of coming home that October.
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I recommended some books about child welfare, poverty, abuse, and addressing harm for this cool site. If you read my book & want to go deeper this is a good place to start.
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A piece on Texas that has been long in the works should be coming to fruition in the next couple of weeks. It links these terrible policies to the horrific treatment of trans kids in foster care.
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The book comes out in exactly a week! The final copies are incredibly beautiful. 🤩
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My son accidentally let go of a balloon in February, and he brings it up forlornly almost every day.
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@washingtonpost
@socialworkwill
Dontay, 23, has been out of prison for more than a year. He has no car, no phone, no computer. He’s never held a job. He lives with his aging father, Nathaniel, who is 78.
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When Paxton issued his legal opinion that gender-affirming care was child abuse, he cited court cases involving Munchausen by Proxy diagnoses. I wrote for
@harpersbazaarus
about how this has been playing out in custody court battles for years.
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Absolutely brutal follow up by
@LisaArmstrong
of Joshua Keith Beasley, who died by suicide at 16 in a Texas adult prison. There were so many chances to help Joshua. Even his lawyers failed him.
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