Torn apart how the child welfare system destroys Black families--and how abolition can build a safer world

In this book, an award-winning scholar exposes the foundational racism of the child welfare system and calls for radical change. Many believe the child welfare system protects children from abuse. But as this book uncovers, this system is designed to punish Black families. Drawing on decades of rese...

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Main Author: Roberts, Dorothy E., 1956- (Author)
Format: Books Print Book
Language: English
Published: New York : Basic Books, 2022.
Edition: First edition.
Subjects:
Summary: In this book, an award-winning scholar exposes the foundational racism of the child welfare system and calls for radical change. Many believe the child welfare system protects children from abuse. But as this book uncovers, this system is designed to punish Black families. Drawing on decades of research, a legal scholar and sociologist reveals that the child welfare system is better understood as a "family policing system" that collaborates with law enforcement and prisons to oppress Black communities. Child protection investigations ensnare a majority of Black children, putting their families under intense state surveillance and regulation. Black children are disproportionately likely to be torn from their families and placed in foster care, driving many to juvenile detention and imprisonment. The only way to stop the destruction caused by family policing, this book argues, is to abolish the child welfare system and liberate Black communities. -- Adapted from publisher's description.
Physical Description: vii, 375 pages : illustration ; 25 cm
Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references (pages 309-360) and index (pages 361-375).
ISBN: 9781541675445
1541675444
Author Notes: Dorothy Roberts is the George A. Weiss University Professor of Law and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, where she directs the Penn Program on Race, Science, and Society. The author of four books, including Killing the Black Body , she lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.