In 2011, more than 400,000 children were in foster care in the United States, according to Cris Beam in this incisive portrait of the flawed system. She writes about troubled birth mothers, foster parents who earn a fee for taking care of these lonely kids, exhausted case workers, and former foster kids. The author teaches creative writing at Columbia University, New York University, and Bayview Correctional Facility. She interviewed many of those involved in foster care and listened to the criticism of the system by children, case workers, and foster parents. Beam notes that one of the reasons why there is so little innovation, love, or justice in foster care is because it is "intricately woven into so many facets of American society" such as poverty, family life, substance abuse, health care, racism, and class bias.
Beam does a good job covering many of the critical issues involved in foster care including abuse and neglect, the sense of loss experienced by birth parents, the courtroom fights after children are removed, the challenges faced by foster parents, and the plight of those children who don't go home or get adopted (called "aging out" by professionals and getting "discharged" by foster children who are released from the system.) With poverty on the upswing in America, it is more than likely that more American children will be entering the foster care system in the future. Beam has provided a service for all those who will be involved with this complex and daunting social problem.
