Join us for a panel discussion with the author:

• Claudia Rowe, Author, Journalist, Advocate

• Judith M. Gerber, Esq., Director, NYS Family Court Practice Institute, Center for Justice Innovation

• Jackie Boissonnault, LMSW, Executive Director-CASA of New York State

• Beth Ehrich, CASA Volunteer, Board Member-CASANYS, Moderator

"Wards of the State: The Long Shadow of American Foster Care" examines the impact of foster care involvement and challenges readers to consider how systems shape futures. This panel brings together voices from advocacy, leadership, and legal representation to examine the book’s insights through the lens of real-world practice and what they mean for those working within child welfare today. 

Together, we will explore how advocacy, legal decision-making, and system structures influence children not just in the moment — but across a lifetime.

About the book:
A compelling exploration of the broken American foster care system, told through the stories of six former foster youth. This powerful narrative nonfiction book delves into the systemic failures that lead many foster children into the criminal justice system, highlighting the urgent need for reform.

​This book is a must-read for anyone interested in child welfare, social justice, and the transformative power of the best narrative nonfiction.

In Wards of the State, award-winning journalist Claudia Rowe's storytelling is both vivid and unflinching, offering readers a deep understanding of the foster care-to-prison pipeline. Through interviews with psychologists, advocates, judges, and the former foster children themselves, Rowe paints a heartbreaking picture of the lives shaped by this broken system.