Five-star journalism. Picked this up to better understand some of the intergenerational trauma in my family that in-part stems from the foster system. Eye-opening and disturbing yet tender. Humanizes and centers the birth families. ( )

There were so many mistakes made in the care of these children. The safeguards that should protect them were not responsive. While the CPS system took away the rights of the birth families, the abuse of adoptive families seems to have been minimized. This led to a terrible tragedy. The system should try to help birth families stay together, even if it means finding relatives to care for children if mothers and fathers are not able.
My problem with the book is that the author became too personally involved in the story and I think it affected her objectivity. ( )

An excellent look at how broken and racist America’s child welfare system is. I love that the author focused so much attention on the birth mothers of the Hart adoptees. It just bogged down in statistics and data too often. ( )

hands down one of the best things i've read this year. the storytelling, the research, the writing, it is all incredibly good. Roxanna Asgarian thoughtfully investigates who the Hart children were and how many governmental systems failed them. this story is heartbreaking and not easy to read but it is worthy of your time and attention. this book is so much more than a true crime story, Asgarian's research dives deep into the flaws of the US adoption system, educational systems, child protective services and other entities that allowed such a horrific and tragic event to happen. this book broke my heart. the research was well done and it balanced nicely with good storytelling. the Hart kids and their families deserved better and Asgarian writes factually, but with sincerity and care ( )

"The Hart family story complicates popular narratives about abuse and the role of CPS in protecting children from it. The children's birth families were not beating their children or starving them; they were clearly struggling with substance use and mental illness, but instead of receiving help, the parents were punished. On the other hand, authorities consistently projected a halo of goodness onto the adoptive mothers, throughout a decade of abuse allegations, and even after the murder of their children with cops and other officials bending over backwards to interpret their actions in the kindest possible light."

Several years ago a lesbian couple, Sarah and Jennifer Hart, drove their car off the cliffs of Northern California into the ocean with their 6 adopted children. They and all 6 children died. In this book, the author investigates the foster care system and removals of children from their birth homes through the lens of this tragedy.

Not surprisingly, she found that the children removed from their homes are disproportionately black or biracial and overwhelmingly poor. The homes they go to are often white. During the process, the families they are taken from are stigmatized, given few chances and little help or assistance, whereas the families they go to are given every benefit of the doubt. For instance, in the Hart case, before the second set of three children was placed with them for adoption, Sarah had already been found to have physically abused one of the three children they already had adopted.

I found the book to be eye-opening and very sad. The first set of three children adopted by the Harts were initially taken from their mother when she failed to get medical help for one of them. However, she was in the process of trying to get transportation to the hospital and had no ride. The second set were taken from their mother who had a substance abuse problem. When she wasn't using, she was a loving mother. They were initially placed with their aunt for adoption by their aunt, and were not supposed to have unsupervised visits with their mother. However, one day when child-care fell through, and the aunt would lose her job if she didn't go to work, the mother was left in charge of the children for a short while. Unfortunately CPS showed up, found the children alone with their mother and immediately removed them. Despite desperate efforts in the courts and administratively to get the children back with their actual family, they were sent from Houston their home to the Harts in Chicago. In both these cases, so many issues, so much trauma, and probably the deaths of the children could have been avoided had CPS acted more reasonably--how about helping these desperately poor mothers/caregivers with childcare assistance, better and more accessible healthcare (a ride to the doctor?), or just let the moms know they're there to help, not to punish.

This was excellent, informative, detailed and well-written.

4 stars ( )