Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care

Synopsis

TOLD THROUGH THE STORIES OF SIX FORMER FOSTER YOUTH, A JOLTING EXPLORATION OF A BROKEN SYSTEM FROM AN AWARD-WINNING JOURNALIST. By the time Maryanne was eighteen years old, she was on trial for murder. In and out of foster homes since the fourth grade, she had been trafficked and assaulted, and as a runaway on the streets, she finally pointed a gun at a man and pulled the trigger. She fled, but with no family and few real friends, it didn't take long for the police to catch up with her. In court, Maryanne's defense blamed the foster care system itself. While the state of Washington brushed off that argument, journalist Claudia Rowe decided to look closer. Wards of the State widens the lens on an eye-opening case that began as a true-crime Inquiry and grew into a propulsive exploration of the foster-care-to-prison pipeline. Overseeing nearly half a million children, at a cost of $30 billion a year, the US foster system channels far more kids into locked cells than college classrooms. By conservative estimates, at least 20 percent of state prison inmates are former foster youth, and in some lockups more than half the inmates were raised by the state. Following six foster kids through the courtrooms, group homes, detention halls, and adoption fairs that framed their lives over four decades, Rowe illustrates exactly where, when, and how the system twists children into crime statistics. With perspectives from the psychologists, judges, advocates, and foster parents who witnessed their struggle for survival, Wards of the State pulls back the curtain on a child welfare system that has become an integral part of America's mass incarceration complex. CLAUDIA ROWE has been writing about the hallways and courtrooms where kids and government clash for thirty years. Her reporting on racially skewed school discipline for the Seattle Times, where she is a member of the editorial board, helped to change education laws in Washington State, and her coverage of Latino youth gangs was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Rowe has also written for the New York Times and Mother Jones. She won the Washington State Book Award for her true crime memoir, The Spider and the Fly.

Copyright:

2025

Book Details

Book Quality:

Excellent

Book Size:

244 Pages

ISBN-13:

9781419763151

Publisher:

Abrams The Art of Books

Date of Addition:

09/22/25

Copyrighted By:

Claudia Rowe

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

Nonfiction, Psychology, Law, Legal Issues and Ethics, Sociology

Submitted By:

Terry Gorman

Proofread By:

Terry Gorman

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.