The Politics of Child Abuse in America (Child Welfare: a Series in Child Welfare Practice, Policy, and Research)

This book is extremely well-written and readable. It is powerful at the same time that it is scholarly and intellectually honest. The author provide a clear, integrated, conceptual historical perspective on the rise of the current child welfare system. They explain the concepts that have guided the system, past and present, and develop an overarching interpretive framework that fits the facts well while accounting for how the system has evolved toward the crisis that it is presently in. The authors jump right into today's heated debates, and emerge with their own unique entry to the current field of proposals for restructuring the system.