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

This is an excellently written case study of three generations of individuals subjected to poverty and the recurrent nightmare of an antiquated foster care system devoid of personalization for children. Although it is nonfiction, it reads like a novel with interesting characters in whom I found myself becoming entirely invested. It left me longing for reassurance and follow up on the individuals. One can only hope that the two survivors might be doing well in the years following the end of the book.

Just because it's non fiction doesn't mean I can't use my imagination. What made Nina Bernstein think I'd be interested in the exact height, hometown and family tree of every person associated with the Wilder case?The book is written as a narrative which bounces around from one person to another multiple times within chapters which is extremely frustrating. Just as you are getting interested in the story or the course of events she does a quick change to some other character, some of which are not at all interesting. This style is often enjoyable, (mostly in non fiction) but this is not a good application of that method.Aside from my overall frustration with the book it is of course still compelling material. Reading it just feels like wading through a swamp of details.Unfortunately, this book could have easily been half as long and twice as compelling.

This history shows the interrelationship of poverty, the child welfare system, and systemic racism. So many of the solutions proposed are proposed by people who have no understanding of the real ptoblems. This book can help teach you.

There was lots of legal information that was over my head. Informative regarding the cycle of poor in the foster care system. As a Guardian ad Litem, I read to help families I work with.

Such an interesting read.

Excellent/depressing account of the wilder case and the welfare system at large

"The Lost Children of Wilder" doesn't have much to do with racism. It's mostly about the attitude towards foster care and adoption in the USA. With a high birthrate among poor teenage girls, along with a lack of birth control, we have a big population of orphans. In countries like Sweden and Italy, the foster care system isn't a mess because there are almost no kids needing placement.Shirley Wilder, the protagonist, was an adolescent whose father drove her out. In the early 70's, orphanages could pick and choose whom they got to take in at government expense, and since the best private homes were either Catholic or Jewish, the African-American Wilder had nowhere to go but the worst institutions. The lawsuit that bears her name ended the practice by which orphanages could pick and choose. But it didn't stop the problem. Shirley Wilder had a son named Lamont when she was 13, and this boy grew up in a series of foster homes that never lasted long. As a teen, he fathered a child, but remained present in the child's life (at least according to the book).Foster care is a problem in the USA. The number of kids put into foster care is too big, and we'd better do something. We need a massive surge in birth control, or our future is looking bleak. Better yet, we need to distribute vibrators to teenage girls. It's a better alternative to having unprotected sex with a stupid boy.

I am a social worker. I have worked in the New York City public child welfare system since the mid-1970's, and have read about and studied the field pretty obsessively for the past 30+ years. If I had to name the single best book I've ever read on the New York City child welfare system, it would not be one of the many excellent books written by social workers, sociologists, psychologists, attorneys, or even by individuals who grew up in the foster care system. It would be this book, by a consummate journalist, who examines a case that drove child welfare practice in NYC for 20+ years with both exhaustive thoroughness and laser-like focus, weaving a compelling story that is both sobering and instructive. I believe this book should be required reading for all child welfare practitioners and policy-makers. A masterful piece of journalism.