Book Review: Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care

“Wards of the State : The Long Shadow of America’s Foster Care” by Claudia Rowe is a book about the foster care-to-prison pipeline.

Excerpts:

• “Her story about Latino youth gang activity in Grant County, Washington, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. So in 2016, when she heard about the case of a 16-year-old Seattle girl on trial for murdering a 21-year-old gangster, it wasn’t the fact that Maryanne Atkins was accused of pulling the trigger that caught her attention: It was her defense.
• According to her public defender, the government was as culpable in the murder charges as Atkins herself. Years of neglect and abuse left Atkins with staggering PTSD. The child welfare system had failed to protect her from sex trafficking and rape. In and out of foster care, Atkins suffered from starvation, cruelty and loss. “
• ““The reality is that foster care trained kids not for productive adult lives, but for success in carceral settings.””
• “Locally, Skookum Kids is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that “exists to mobilize communities to create a healthy foster care system.””

Review: ‘Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care’ by Claudia Rowe

[Cascadia Daily 4/24/26 by Christine Perkins]

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