Back in the 1950s, when Joanie and Margo were still children, they had never heard of “foster care.” Poor families—Black, brown, and white—relied on kinship networks to help raise their children. The alternative was a child welfare system that segregated by skin color. This practice had its roots in the orphan train era, when charitable organizations became the primary caretakers of poor children. They had monopolized the system, using taxpayer funds while discriminating on religious grounds. Jewish and Catholic children, the majority of them white, went to faith-based agencies offering foster
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