The Lost Children of Wilder: The Epic Struggle to Change Foster Care

Nina Bernstein's compelling account of the generations of children trapped in the child welfare system kept me up late turning pages...and gave me nightmares of the thousands and thousands of children who are still churning through an overtaxed foster care system that our society doesn't seem to care about. Still almost every week there's another horror story of an abused or neglected kid that fell through the cracks of the "system."This is an absolutely amazing, and realistic account, of what long-term public interest litigation is like. The world needs more people like Marcia Robinson Lowry to fight on behalf of kids, and more journalists like Nina Bernstein, willing to put under bright light the shortcomings that our local governments would rather have swept under the rug.

Even though I have had no personal contact with the foster care system, I found the book fascinating as it concurrently details the trial against the system and the private trials of the Wilder family. While reading the book my heart went out not only to the Wilders in the story but the countless, nameless children that are wrapped in a system that is inadequate at best, and often very dangerous, both physically and emotionally. What struck me particularly hard throughout the book, is the reality that there are so many children that have nowhere to turn. We as a society need to find better ways to help these children, who through no fault of their own are so helpless. In order to change the system it is imperitive that we understand the problem, and the book does a wonderful job of describing the circumstances children in our foster care system face every day. I believe that religion should be a choice whenever possible, so that the child maintains some contact with a lifestyle familiar to him/her, but I also believe that communities that have a higher proportion of foster care children should be assisted to develop quality programs as well.

The Lost Children of Wilder is a book that is long overdue. Bernstein captures the insidious machinations of the NYC foster care system that purports to care for the well-being of all its homeless, indigent, and too often parentless children, irrespective of their race, creed or religion. I know of the systematic abuse of the NYC foster care system because I was number 1811513 who was serviced out of the Brooklyn Bureau of Social service and Children's Aid Society at 285 Schermerhorn Street. Bernstein has accomplished a herculean task by lifting an airtight lid on an epic silence to speak truth for the many children, like myself, who at a time in our lives were both invisible and voiceless. Rev. Irene Monroe Harvard Divinity School.

This well-written epic study of New York's foster care system reads like a novel. Indeed, the fascinating details about three generations of foster children kept me reading and reading; the book is a cliff-hanger in a way non-fiction seldom is. Shirley and Lamont's compelling stories not only reveal little-known aspects of welfare history, but provide a window of what the sad future may look like if President Bush succeeds with his faith-based welfare initiatives.

This is an incredible book. Beautifully written and thoroughly researched, it seamlessly weaves the story of a family trapped in New York City's foster care system, the history of foster care in New York, and the struggle of a small group of dedicated lawyers who wanted to make a difference. It should be required reading for anyone who works with kids, especially in a legal context. Bernstein provides an objective but devastating critique of the City's failed efforts to help the neediest children in New York, as well as a moving story about the people behind the statistics. I've recommended it to many friends.