They Took the Kids Last Night: How the Child Protection System Puts Families at Risk ISBN-13: 9781440866289

Author: Redleaf, Diane L.

Brand: Bloomsbury Academic

Number Of Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 9781440866289

Release Date: 31-10-2018

Languages: English

Binding: Hardcover

Package Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1.0 inches

Details: This account of six families whose children were wrongly seized by child protection services vividly illustrates the constitutional balancing act where medicine, family interests, and child safety can clash.

They Took the Kids Last Night shows a rarely exposed side of Americas contemporary struggle to address child abuse, telling the stories of loving families who were almost destroyed by false allegations―readily accepted by caseworkers, doctors, the media, and, too often, the courts.

Each of the six wrongly accused families profiled in this book faced an epic and life-changing battle when child protection caseworkers came to their homes to take their kids. In each case, a child had an injury whose cause was unknown; it could have been due to an accident, a medical condition, or abuse. Each family ultimately exonerated itself and restored its family life, but still bears scars from the experience that will never disappear. The book tells why and how the child protection system failed these families. It also examines the larger flaws in our countrys child protection safety net that is supposed to sort out the innocent from the guilty in order to protect children.