Wards of the State The Long Shadow of American Foster Care

Claudia Rowe, Morgan Hallett

eAudio - 2025

Told through the stories of six former foster youth, a jolting exploration of a broken system from an award-winning journalist 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, of course. Each year, hundreds of thousands of children grow up in America's $30 billion foster care system, only to leave and enter its... more