Catching a Case: Inequality and Fear in New York City's Child Welfare System

Influenced by news reports of young children brutalized by their parents, most of us see the role of child services as the prevention of severe physical abuse. But as Tina Lee shows in this study, most child welfare cases revolve around often ill-founded charges of neglect, and the parents swept into the system are generally struggling but loving, fighting to raise their children in the face of poverty, crime, poor housing, and failing schools.