Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2024 -

Written by a theologian and ethicist, The Ethics of Protection is a devastating critique of child welfare in the US. Focusing on Child Protective Services (CPS) as the gateway to foster care and adoption, Rice (Marquette Univ.) surgically examines how white social workers oppress Black families by removing their children primarily because the parents are poor. Placing CPS in historical, theological, and administrative contexts, Rice explicates how child removal violates human rights and Catholic social teaching. Based in Milwaukee where he has served as an advocate for the homeless and for families broken up by CPS, Rice uses case studies of families ensnared in the child welfare apparatus to great effect. The end of the book includes a 10-point "Quick CPS Guide for Parents" designed to help them defend their rights. The Ethics of Protection should be required reading for child welfare workers, students enrolled in social work programs, and an informed public concerned about the future of America's children. A companion for Rice's documentation of racism in child welfare is Torn Apart (2022), by Dorothy Roberts.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.