Shattered Bonds

The Color Of Child Welfare
by Dorothy Roberts

Dec 24, 2002
Paperback
US $17.50
CAN $21.00
ISBN: 9780465070596
ISBN-10: 0465070590
Published by Basic Civitas Books

 

Description

Shattered Bonds is a stirring account of a worsening American social crisis--the disproportionate representation of black children in the U.S. foster care system and its effects on black communities and the country as a whole. Tying the origins and impact of this disparity to racial injustice, Dorothy Roberts contends that child-welfare policy reflects a political choice to address startling rates of black child poverty by punishing parents instead of tackling poverty's societal roots. Using conversations with mothers battling the Chicago child-welfare system for custody of their children, along with national data, Roberts levels a powerful indictment of racial disparities in foster care and tells a moving story of the women and children who earn our respect in their fight to keep their families intact.

Reviews

"Roberts revels in raising the hackles of what she regards as a comfortably numb society that has for centuries treated people of color with a not-so-thinly-veiled contempt."
— Christian Science Monitor

"Passionate, meticulously researched...not afraid to spark controversy." Linda Villarosa
— Linda Villarosa Ms. Magazine

"A provocative argument stressing community over individual responsibility."
— Kirkus Reviews

Selling Territory

World Excluding UK & Commonwealth