New Books in Sociology

Claudia Rowe, "Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care" (Abrams Press, 2025)


Listen Later

Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care (Abrams Press, 2025) is compelling exploration of the broken American foster care system, told through the stories of six former foster youth. This powerful narrative nonfiction book delves into the systemic failures that lead many foster children into the criminal justice system, highlighting the urgent need for reform.

Award-winning journalist Claudia Rowe brings her extensive experience and investigative prowess to this eye-opening work. With a career spanning over 25 years, Rowe has written for publications such as The New York Times and Mother Jones, and her reporting has influenced policy changes in Washington State. Her previous book, The Spider and the Fly, was a gripping true-crime memoir that showcased her ability to blend personal narrative with broader social issues.

In Wards of the State, Rowe's storytelling is both vivid and unflinching, offering readers a deep understanding of the foster care-to-prison pipeline. Through interviews with psychologists, advocates, judges, and the former foster children themselves, Rowe paints a heartbreaking picture of the lives shaped by this broken system.

By the time Maryanne was 16 years old, she had been arrested for murder. In and out of foster and adoptive homes since age 10, she'd run away, been trafficked and assaulted, and finally pointed a gun at the latest man to take her into his car. She pulled the trigger and fled. But with no family to turn to and few reliable friends, it didn't take long for the police to catch up with her.

In court, the defense blamed neither traffickers, nor Maryanne, but Washington state itself--or rather, its foster care system, which parents thousands of children every year. The courts didn't listen to that argument, but award-winning journalist Claudia Rowe did.

Washington state isn't alone. Each year, hundreds of thousands of children grow up in America's $30 billion foster care system, only to leave and enter its prisons, where a quarter of all inmates are former foster youth.

Weaving Maryanne's story with those of five other foster kids across the country--including an 18-year-old sleeping on the New York City subways; a gangbanger turned graduate student; and a foster child who is now a policy advisor to the White House--Rowe paints a visceral survival narrative showing exactly where, when, and how the system channels children into locked cells.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

New Books in SociologyBy New Books Network

  • 4.2
  • 4.2
  • 4.2
  • 4.2
  • 4.2

4.2

45 ratings


More shows like New Books in Sociology

View all
Nature Podcast by Springer Nature Limited

Nature Podcast

758 Listeners

Thinking Allowed by BBC Radio 4

Thinking Allowed

300 Listeners

New Books in History by Marshall Poe

New Books in History

206 Listeners

New Books in Psychoanalysis by Marshall Poe

New Books in Psychoanalysis

191 Listeners

New Books in Military History by Marshall Poe

New Books in Military History

161 Listeners

New Books in African American Studies by New Books Network

New Books in African American Studies

162 Listeners

New Books in Anthropology by New Books Network

New Books in Anthropology

48 Listeners

New Books in Environmental Studies by Marshall Poe

New Books in Environmental Studies

23 Listeners

New Books in Philosophy by New Books Network

New Books in Philosophy

111 Listeners

New Books in Native American Studies by Marshall Poe

New Books in Native American Studies

103 Listeners

New Books in Critical Theory by Marshall Poe

New Books in Critical Theory

145 Listeners

New Books in American Studies by New Books Network

New Books in American Studies

30 Listeners

New Books in Intellectual History by New Books Network

New Books in Intellectual History

61 Listeners

Jacobin Radio by Jacobin

Jacobin Radio

1,431 Listeners

The Dig by Daniel Denvir

The Dig

1,548 Listeners

The New Yorker Radio Hour by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

The New Yorker Radio Hour

6,699 Listeners

The Gray Area with Sean Illing by Vox

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

10,675 Listeners

Sinica Podcast by Kaiser Kuo

Sinica Podcast

596 Listeners

Why Theory by Why Theory

Why Theory

576 Listeners

Politics Theory Other by Politics Theory Other

Politics Theory Other

176 Listeners

Throughline by NPR

Throughline

16,138 Listeners

Acid Horizon by Acid Horizon

Acid Horizon

174 Listeners

Hard Fork by The New York Times

Hard Fork

5,485 Listeners

What's Left of Philosophy by Lillian Cicerchia, Owen Glyn-Williams, Gil Morejón, and William Paris

What's Left of Philosophy

259 Listeners