Broken: Transforming Child Protective Services--Notes of a Former Caseworker

Joining the Ranks of Evicted, The New Jim Crow, and Janesville, 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.

The denial of maternal rights and the separation of families has endured since Black women were first brought to America in chains four hundred years ago. Known as ?Jane Crow,? the surveillance and criminalization of Black mothers today is carried out by a branch of government know as Child Protective Services. Domestic incidents make up the majority of calls to police, leading to trauma and even murder. Poor people of color are often judged harshly for their circumstances, and are often disproportionately represented in calls to CPS. These calls begin with good intentions, but?as Dr. Jessica Pryce learned for herself?the outcome often makes matters worse.

A former CPS caseworker, Dr. Pryce knows this system firsthand and in this long overdue book, breaks it down from the inside out, offering crucial perspectives from caseworkers, the Black mothers affected, and the children who have been placed in care.

Lost in the System is the story of women and children like Didi, who left home at a young age to start a family in Florida; Erica, the godmother to Didi's youngest child Madisen; and young Madisen herself?all cogs in a broken machine run by people trying to make the best of bad situations. Their stories illuminate how implicit bias adversely affects Black women, from lack of compassionate training to assumptions of child maltreatment and abuse to requirements for intervention and separation. Dr. Pryce makes clear that the industry of child protective services has not only upheld unfair practices, but enforced them continuing to divide Black families and condemn Black mothers, most notably those who are poor.

Groundbreaking, heart-wrenching, yet filled with hopeful insights and concrete suggestions including creating improved laws based on new science, Lost in the System is a much-need look into the depths of injustice facing guardians and children and a neglected system that indelibly impacts thousands of families nationwide.