Community Justice Doulas
Building Community Power through Doula Love + Attorney Thought Partnership
Who are community justice doulas, who are they serving, and who is helping them?
Community Justice Doulas: In the same way that birth doulas are not doctors or midwives, but there to support the birthing person, community justice doulas are not working as lawyers, but as advocates who are there to support system-impacted individuals and survivors of obstetric violence & obstetric racism in navigating their accountability journeys.
Attorney Buddies: Attorney “buddies” are licensed in the jurisdictions where our doulas are located and are there to provide insight when a question arises that does require some legal expertise.
What kinds of support can a community justice doula and their attorney-buddy provide?
Community Justice Doulas offer emotional, logistical and community support. Some examples of this include:
Thinking through the BRAIN (benefits, risks, alternatives, intuition and next steps) of a particular strategy or approach while navigating the legal or family policing system
Going with someone to their hearing to provide emotional support
Going to someone’s home visit to provide emotional support when they are being targeted by the family policing system
Helping someone to navigate the self-help page on a court’s website
Organizing a meal train when someone has experienced a loss
Sending someone KYR information or connecting them to an attorney for legal advice
Attorney buddies offer KYR information and unbundled, pro-bono legal services
Where do doulas and attorney buddies meet?
We meet over zoom.
Doulas are based in
Colorado
New York
California
DMV
Florida
Texas
How does the doula-attorney relationship work?
We doula the doulas with a wide range of questions.
The areas of law that come up the most are:
Child Abuse & Neglect: Family policing questions and concerns, safety planning and strategizing, questions surrounding substance use and pregnancy + lactation
Family law: Divorce & child custody (especially how and where to file forms), jurisdictional questions
Obstetric violence and obstetric racism: Identifying accountability pathways and possible claims/the kind of representation they would need