This Glamour Magazine “Broken Harts” podcast is about two White mothers from Minnesota who drove their six adopted Black children off a California cliff.
The details could support two competing views of child welfare – that government is too slow to protect children, or takes them from parents who aren’t actually maltreating them, particularly African-Americans.
Both are sometimes right.
In this case, the podcast suggests that removing the Hart children from their African-American homes seemed justified, but doesn’t say if services were provided to make this unnecessary. It also indicates that the adoptive home wasn’t properly vetted, and three states waited too long to protect the children from their adoptive parents.
Among other lessons this highlights the importance of helping families stay together when possible and strengthening accountability around adoptions.