Child Welfare

Andrea Elliott follows eight dramatic years in the life of Dasani, a girl whose imagination is as soaring as the skyscrapers near her Brooklyn shelter. In this sweeping narrative, Elliott weaves the story of Dasani’s childhood with the history of her ancestors, tracing their passage from slavery to the Great Migration north. As Dasani comes of age, New York City’s homeless crisis has exploded, deepening the chasm between rich and poor. She must guide her siblings through a world riddled by hunger, violence, racism, drug addiction, and the threat of foster care.

Bestselling novelist Gay Courter recounts her experiences as a Guardian ad Litem, a volunteer court-appointed special advocate (CASA) for children involved in the legal system due to abuse, neglect, or abandonment. Her story is both heartbreaking and heartwarming, and is an inspiration for anyone who has ever looked up from a newspaper and wondered, "What can I do to help?"

Joining the ranks of Evicted and The New Jim Crow, a former caseworker’s searing, clear-eyed investigation of the child welfare system—from foster care to incarceration—that exposes the deep-rooted biases shaping the system, witnessed through the lives of several Black families. Dr...

As a pioneer in the field of inherited family trauma, Mark Wolynn has worked with individuals and groups on a therapeutic level for over 20 years. It Didn't Start with You offers a pragmatic and prescriptive guide to his method, the Core Language Approach. Diagnostic self-inventories provide a way to uncover the fears and anxieties conveyed through everyday words, behaviors, and physical symptoms.

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 Torn Apart uncovers, this system is designed to punish Black families. Drawing on...

This is an unconventional biography of an unconventional woman. Eglantyne Jebb moved from drawing rooms to war zones, often defying expectation and at times breaking the law. Although not fond of individual children, she founded Save the Children and originated the revolutionary concept of children's human rights. Clare Mulley brings to life the brilliant, charismatic, passionate, and compassionate woman, whose work has saved millions of lives and permanently changed the way the world treats children. Save the Children ambassador Joely Richardson narrates this extraordinary story.

Shattered Bonds tells this story as no other book has before - from the perspective of a prominent Black, female legal theoretician. The current state of the child-welfare system in America is a well-known tragedy. Thousands of children every year are removed from their parents' homes, often for little reason other than the endemic poverty that afflicts women and children more than any other group in the United States.

The American child welfare system is bent toward protecting adults, not children. Kids in danger are treated instrumentally to promote the rehabilitation of their parents, the welfare of their communities, and the social justice of their race and tribe. It is time to stop letting efforts to fix the child welfare system get derailed by activists who are concerned with race-matching, blood ties, and the abstract demands of social justice, and start asking the most important question: Where are the emotionally and financially stable, loving, and permanent homes where kids can thrive?

An instinctual pull as old as time - a grandmother wanting to hold her newborn grandchild - bring readers into an unbelievable ordeal. Author Tina Fumo travels to a small town in Canada and finds herself in the most stressful situation of her life. The 'authorities' have apprehended her two week old granddaughter. What her and her family go through to get back their baby will absolutely shock you. You'll wonder if this is really Canada. You will surely cry. You may even laugh. But make no mistake...what you find out in the end will make your jaw drop.

In this pioneering, practical book, Daniel J. Siegel, neuropsychiatrist and author of the bestselling Mindsight, and parenting expert Tina Payne Bryson offer a revolutionary approach to child rearing with twelve key strategies that foster healthy brain development, leading to calmer, happier children. The authors explain—and make accessible—the new science of how a child’s brain is wired and how it matures.

The eldest of seven children born to an abusive father, I endured a childhood of unspeakable violence and ridicule. This courageous memoir details the hardships I faced as I desperately tried to be accepted as a son to a father who does not believe I am his child. I did not endure years of abuse as a child to remain silent. Now I am not ashamed of what I suffered as a child anymore. My story is not easy to read or even comprehend, but it is my truth and my right to tell because it happened to me. It took 58 years to accept that my past cannot be changed and to finally let my past go. I can ...

Children of Coercive Control extends Evan Stark's path-breaking analysis of interpersonal violence to children, showing that coercive control is the most important cause and context of child abuse and child homicide outside a war zone, as well as of the sexual abuse, denigration, exploitation, isolation, and subordination of children. The book provides a working model of the coercive control of children and illustrates its dynamics and consequences with dramatic cases drawn from the headlines and Dr. Stark's forensic practice.

In this groundbreaking history of the modern American metropolis, Richard Rothstein explodes the myth that America's cities came to be racially divided through de facto segregation - that is, through individual prejudices, income differences, or the actions of private institutions like banks and real estate agencies. Rather, he incontrovertibly makes clear that it was de jure segregation - the laws and policy decisions passed by local, state, and federal governments - that actually promoted the discriminatory patterns that continue to this day.

In White Fragility, Robin DiAngelo explained how racism is a system into which all White people are socialized and challenged the belief that racism is a simple matter of good people versus bad. DiAngelo also made a provocative claim: White progressives cause the most daily harm to people of color. In Nice Racism, her follow-up work, she explains how they do so. Drawing on her background as a sociologist and over 25 years working as an anti-racist educator, she picks up where White Fragility left off and moves the conversation forward.

Many foster and adoptive parents are raising children with complex emotional trauma, desperate for answers to heal their families. Caught off guard, these families find themselves with shattered dreams, shattered homes, and shattered hearts, with nowhere to turn for answers. Extended family members, friends, and the greater community don't understand the challenges and can, sometimes, add to the problems these families face, prolonging the healing process for all.

“Real, raw, magnificent—Before I Let Go is the beautiful angst I love to read.” —Colleen Hoover, #1 New York Times bestselling author A scorching emotional second chance romance from a New York Times bestselling author. A Good Morning America Book Buzz Pick! Their love was supposed to...

Turn heartbreak into hope — and create a confident, peaceful life after divorce! When your world feels shattered, starting over can seem impossible. Thrive After Divorce shows you how to rebuild step by step — emotionally, financially, and spiritually. Inside, you’ll find practical tools and compassionate guidance to help you: 💬 Handle a high-conflict ex with calm and confidence 💰 Regain financial independence and protect your future 💖 Rebuild self-esteem and rediscover your identity 🙏 Heal emotionally through faith-based reflection and renewal With warmth, wisdom, and ...

FOR THE TAKING follows Don Vodka’s brave journey from a cruel childhood to a life of adventure and self-discovery, blending raw struggle with the triumphs that shaped her into what she is today. It is the haunting story of a girl forced to grow up too soon in a world that never protected her. After her mother’s death when she was seven, Donnalee’s father turned cruel and violent — until his disappearance left her in the hands of “Uncle Digger,” a man whose fists were only the beginning of what she feared. Nearing her twelfth birthday, she began to sense the danger shifting into ...

A murdered child. A surviving twin. A father who says he was saving them. Thirteen years ago, ten-year-old Noelle Rivera was found dead in the bed of a chemical-soaked pickup truck. Her twin brother, Malik, was barely alive in the front seat. Their adoptive father, Elias Rivera, has been behind bars ever since. Now, after more than a decade of delays, his trial is finally about to begin. But first, the court must answer one haunting question: Is Elias competent to stand trial—or is he too far gone to face what he did? Inside the courtroom, forensic psychologists battle over his sanity. ...

From one of the most trusted commentators on the issues facing black Americans today, The Vanishing Black Family exposes the real force holding back black Americans—and it’s closer to home than you think. Since 2020, there’s been a sustained effort to narrow the divide between black and...