Today's Read Contributor In her groundbreaking book We Were Once a Family, Roxanna Asgarian delves into the controversial and often hidden practice of child removal in the United States. Published in October 2023, the work offers a powerful investigative narrative that critiques the child welfare system, bringing attention to the harsh realities and systemic flaws within the process of removing children from their families. Asgarian’s work has sparked significant discussion about the broader implications of child welfare policies and the urgent need for reform.
Asgarian centers her narrative on the lives of several families, focusing particularly on the story of a single, devastating event. This event serves as a window into the broader patterns of child removal, where the state’s involvement in family matters often ends in tragedy or trauma. Asgarian’s journalistic approach combines in-depth research, firsthand accounts, and emotional storytelling to provide readers with an intimate understanding of how these policies impact families, especially those in marginalized communities.
The book addresses a stark reality: while child welfare is meant to protect children, it often has the opposite effect. Asgarian critiques the system’s inherent biases, showing how children from poor or minority families are disproportionately targeted. The book reveals that many of these removals are based on racial and socioeconomic prejudices, with little regard for the long-term psychological harm caused to both the children and their parents.
Through her investigative lens, Asgarian illustrates how the child welfare system, originally designed to safeguard children, has instead become an oppressive force in many families’ lives. The trauma of removal can have lasting effects on children, including mental health issues and a sense of abandonment, which only deepens as they navigate through a system ill-equipped to address their emotional and developmental needs. For many parents, the removal of their child is not just a painful experience but a bureaucratic nightmare, one that is hard to overcome due to the complexities of the legal and social services systems.
At the heart of Asgarian’s book is a call for reform. She advocates for a shift away from punitive measures to a more supportive, community-driven approach that centers on helping families remain intact. She suggests that the child welfare system needs significant changes, including better training for caseworkers, improved access to resources for at-risk families, and a reevaluation of how decisions about child removal are made.
Asgarian’s We Were Once a Family serves as a poignant reminder that child removal, while sometimes necessary, should always be approached with caution, empathy, and a commitment to protecting the well-being of the child in a holistic way. By examining the failures of the current system and offering potential solutions, Asgarian’s book contributes to an ongoing national conversation about child welfare reform and the need to rethink how America protects its children.
