Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America by Roxanna Asgarian

16 reviews

librarymouse's review

dark emotional informative sad fast-paced

4.0

This book is a thoughtful and informative exploration of the pitfalls of the American child welfare system, focusing on the extreme result of placing six children unjustly removed from their loving homes in the care of Jennifer and Sarah Hart. Asgarian explores the extreme and ingrained racism in the child welfare system, exploring the impact of it on the families of the children murdered by the Harts, their dedicated efforts to get them back and living with relatives, the judicial system that purposefully squandered their efforts, and the loopholes that allowed the Harts to adopt six children while being investigated for abuse and assault allegations.

In the epilogue of this book, Asgarian addresses her own tumultuous childhood, noting that because of her family's race and economic status, she never had to fear being removed from the support system made up of friends and relatives while she was in an abusive nuclear family. The generational impact of the removal of black children from loving, if imperfect homes, is still echoing through the families and the children who survive the startling volley of abuse hurled at them in institutions, foster homes, and group homes. Asgarian shines a light on this impact, probing readers to be aware of this world and its machinations.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Self harm, and Murder

Minor: Lesbophobia and Police brutality

woyster's review against another edition

dark informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse and Child death

Minor: Physical abuse, Car accident, Suicide, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Domestic abuse

daniellel's review

challenging emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Child death

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Pregnancy, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Homophobia, and Racism

Minor: Miscarriage

mmccombs's review

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

A solid piece of journalism. I’ve definitely only ever consumed reporting on the Hart case through the POV of the mothers (what were their motivations? What pressure and hardship did they experience that pushed them to something so extreme? etc etc) so it was incredibly eye-opening to dig deeper and see the much larger, systemic issue that brought these children into this situation in the first place. I appreciated how personal this book was to author and that she didn’t shy away from telling us that. This book didn’t necessarily blow me away, but provided an important overview of the foster system and inspires me to learn even more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Drug use, Miscarriage, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Medical trauma

ames_101's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad fast-paced

5.0

Heartbreaking and honest and insightful. This book is powerful and important. This book moves you to want to make changes and support those who need it. This books encourages advocacy. This book challenges status quo and what you think you know about CPS, fostering, adoption, child therapy, and child welfare programs. A must listen.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Abortion, Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Child abuse, Car accident, and Gaslighting

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

5.0

 - WE WERE ONCE A FAMILY is investigative journalism at its best: a book that brings you the untold side of the story and uncovers corruption and neglect far beyond what you thought possible, while maintaining the full humanity of the families at the center of the story.
- This is one of the most enraging books I’ve ever read. It’s the story of people and systems that we sweep under the rug and ignore, because our society has preemptively deemed them as not worth saving.
- Asgarian is quite blunt in her conclusions: none of this had to happen, none of this should have happened, none of this need ever happen again in the future if we wake up and begin to treat everyone as a human worthy of love and care, and if we work to tear down the flawed and failed systems that allowed it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Addiction, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Racism, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Violence, and Murder