From Pariahs to Partners: How Parents and Their Allies Changed New York City’s Child Welfare Program

After being approached by an anonymous donor, Tobis, who has worked in New York City’s child welfare system since 1979, used the donation to co-create the Child Welfare Fund, which aims to help children and families in need and reform the city’s welfare system. His account begins with a brief history of child welfare efforts in N.Y.C. before 1995. Many reform efforts were doomed before they began, despite good intentions, due to institutional inertia and limited social services. Tobis details his efforts, and those of his allies, to make parents and foster children more aware of their rights within the system, and provides statistics that highlight flaws in the system. Whether the efforts to transform New York’s child welfare efforts into something more effective and humane will survive rotating agency heads and funding issues remains to be seen, but Tobis, at least, seems optimistic. This potentially important book, however, is hampered by an over-reliance on anecdotes. While a useful and engaging introduction to the subject, the treatment remains cursory, leaving the reader yearning for a more thorough text. (June)