{"product_id":"we-were-once-a-family-a-story-of-love-death-and-child-removal-in-america-9780374602291","title":"We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"A riveting indictment of the child welfare system . . . [A] bracing gut punch of a book.\" --Robert Kolker, \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"[A] moving and superbly reported book .\" --Jessica Winter, \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"A harrowing account . . . [and] a powerful critique of [the] foster care system . . . \u003ci\u003eWe Were Once a Family\u003c\/i\u003e is a wrenching book.\" --Jennifer Szalai, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review \u003c\/i\u003eEditors' Choice \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe shocking, deeply reported story of a murder-suicide that claimed the lives of six children--and a searing indictment of the American foster care system. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOn March 26, 2018, rescue workers discovered a crumpled SUV and the bodies of two women and several children at the bottom of a cliff beside the Pacific Coast Highway. Investigators soon concluded that the crash was a murder-suicide, but there was more to the story: Jennifer and Sarah Hart, it turned out, were a white married couple who had adopted the six Black children from two different Texas families in 2006 and 2008. Behind the family's loving facade, however, was a pattern of abuse and neglect that went ignored as the couple withdrew the children from school and moved across the country. It soon became apparent that the State of Texas knew very little about the two individuals to whom it had given custody of six children--with fateful consequences. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn the manner of Adrian Nicole LeBlanc's \u003ci\u003eRandom Family \u003c\/i\u003eand other classic works of investigative journalism, Roxanna Asgarian's \u003ci\u003eWe Were Once a Family\u003c\/i\u003e is a revelation of vulnerable lives; it is also a shattering exposé of the foster care and adoption systems that produced this tragedy. As a journalist in Houston, Asgarian became the first reporter to put the children's birth families at the center of the story. We follow the author as she runs up against the intransigence of a state agency that removes tens of thousands of kids from homes each year in the name of child welfare, while often failing to consider alternatives. Her reporting uncovers persistent racial biases and corruption as children of color are separated from birth parents without proper cause. The result is a riveting narrative and a deeply reported indictment of a system that continues to fail America's most vulnerable children while upending the lives of their families.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Roxanna Asgarian\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Farrar, Straus and Giroux\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/14\/2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 320\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.91lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.44h x 5.77w x 1.09d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780374602291\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/09\/2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 02\/01\/2023 pg. 4\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 02\/15\/2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRoxanna Asgarian \u003c\/b\u003eis a Texas-based journalist who writes courts and the law for \u003ci\u003eThe Texas Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e. Her work has appeared in \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNew York\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eTexas Monthly\u003c\/i\u003e, among other publications. She\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003ereceived the 2022 J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award for \u003ci\u003eWe Were Once a Family\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Farrar, Straus and Giroux","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":40806173769843,"sku":"9.78E+12","price":31.7,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0555\/9255\/0515\/products\/img_bc9ec4b0-607b-41dd-9cb9-b689d0fc6c13.jpg?v=1682686689","url":"https:\/\/bookstorenmore.com\/products\/we-were-once-a-family-a-story-of-love-death-and-child-removal-in-america-9780374602291","provider":"Bookstore N More","version":"1.0","type":"link"}