"For the Good of the Children" Racism, Red Tape and the Myth of Family Reunification

Book excerpt: The book is a narrative of one family's entanglement with the child welfare system. As the title suggests, it was a nightmare of bureaucratic red tape, personal grudges, abuse of power and, most importantly, a powerful example of interpersonal and institutional racism. The manuscript chronicles the day-to-day, mind-boggling decisions of child welfare authorities and agents, the rules that only make sense on a legislator's legal pad, and the contradictions and misrepresentations that drove a relatively privileged family to despair.