In Confronting the Racist Legacy of the American Child Welfare System, Alan J. Dettlaff presents a call to abolish the American child welfare system due to the harm and destruction it causes Black families. Dettlaff provides evidence of the vast harms that result from family separations and placement in foster care to make a case that the child welfare system is beyond reform. Rather, the only solution to ending this harm is complete abolition of the child welfare system and a fundamental reimagining of the way society cares for children and families.