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

"Start with a sensational case that grabbed our attention: Two mothers who crashed their SUV over a California cliff, killing themselves and their six adopted children. Then add a reporter who knows her subject in depth – the inner-workings of America’s foster care system. Reporter Roxanna Asgarian spent nearly five years to reveal a truer story – about a system where a well-off white couple can dodge claims of abuse, but the children’s Black families had their kids taken quickly, leaving adults and siblings grieving for their broken family. Press coverage in 2018 puzzled over the motivation of the mothers. Asgarian more thoughtfully asks: What does this tragedy say about a foster care system where, in most cases, children are removed for issues of neglect and poverty, not for abuse?"