"When the Welfare People Come": Race and Class in the US Child Protection System

In this groundbreaking look at the history and politics of the US child welfare system, "When the Welfare People Come" exposes the system in its totality, from child protective investigation to foster care and mandated services, arguing that it constitutes a mechanism of control exerted over poor and working class parents and children. Applying the Marxist framework of social reproduction theory to the child welfare system, the author reveals the system's role in the regulation of family life under capitalism.

Don Lash is an attorney who has practiced in the areas of disability rights, education, and child welfare for more than twenty years.