Rating: 
Summary: Survival in the foster care system
Review: "Orphans of the Living: Stories of America's Children in Foster Care" describes five young people who were raised in the foster care system. These are stories of abuse, of abandonment, of poverty, and of frustration with an underfunded and understaffed social services system. "Orphans ..." documents these five young peoples' histories, and discusses their struggles against an often inflexible and cumbersome social services bureaucracy. Some of these struggles span generations, with young people who were raised in the foster care system becoming adults with infants who in turn are raised by the foster care system -- a cycle of failure. "Orphans ..." also documents the frustration of dedicated and overworked social services staff accepting compromises to make a cumbersome foster care system function.Jennifer Toth is an excellent investigative journalist who becomes involved personally during an investigation. Ms. Toth learns her subjects' histories, and becomes friendly with her subjects in their urban and rural locales, often attempting to help her subjects work through bureaucratic snafus. She writes clearly and well, conveying the social and legal environment surrounding her subjects. "Orphans ..." is less sensational than Ms. Toth's previous book "The Mole People: Life In The Tunnels Beneath New York City" because the foster care system *appears* more normal than subterranean tunnels. But "Orphans ..." describes a foster care system that affects a *significantly* greater number of people. The foster care system's flaws are more significant because they cause hardship while breeding anti-social attitudes. Like subterranean tunnels, the foster care system has few quick exits. I recommend Ms. Toth's book. In "Orphans ..." Ms. Toth has cataloged the foster care system's flaws in a concise, readable and human manner.
Rating:
Summary: Survival in the foster care system
Review: "Orphans of the Living: Stories of America's Children in Foster Care" describes five young people who were raised in the foster care system. These are stories of abuse, of abandonment, of poverty, and of frustration with an underfunded and understaffed social services system. "Orphans ..." documents these five young peoples' histories, and discusses their struggles against an often inflexible and cumbersome social services bureaucracy. Some of these struggles span generations, with young people who were raised in the foster care system becoming adults with infants who in turn are raised by the foster care system -- a cycle of failure. "Orphans ..." also documents the frustration of dedicated and overworked social services staff accepting compromises to make a cumbersome foster care system function. Jennifer Toth is an excellent investigative journalist who becomes involved personally during an investigation. Ms. Toth learns her subjects' histories, and becomes friendly with her subjects in their urban and rural locales, often attempting to help her subjects work through bureaucratic snafus. She writes clearly and well, conveying the social and legal environment surrounding her subjects. "Orphans ..." is less sensational than Ms. Toth's previous book "The Mole People: Life In The Tunnels Beneath New York City" because the foster care system *appears* more normal than subterranean tunnels. But "Orphans ..." describes a foster care system that affects a *significantly* greater number of people. The foster care system's flaws are more significant because they cause hardship while breeding anti-social attitudes. Like subterranean tunnels, the foster care system has few quick exits. I recommend Ms. Toth's book. In "Orphans ..." Ms. Toth has cataloged the foster care system's flaws in a concise, readable and human manner.
Rating: 
Summary: Impressive storytelling
Review: A terrific book. Toth tells the gripping stories of children who would otherwise be forgotten and ignored by society. I couldn't put down this book. And by the time I finished, I felt like I personally knew Angel, Bryan, Jamie and the rest of the children profiled
Rating:
Summary: A work of honest love
Review: As a social worker, youth counselor, foster parent and former DCFS foster care caseworker I was deeply touched with the honesty and integrity that Jennifer brings to her work. Rarely has an author been able to so accurately put the reader in the shoes of these wounded kids. While some may be turned off at the bleak hopelessness that many of these kids feel, if we are going to help and heal the youth of today's foster care system, we must first be willing to honestly address the reality of their world. Jennifer does this in a highly professional yet deeply loving way. I HIGHLY recommend this to all foster parents, foster care workers and youth counselors. But mostly, I recommend this to parents of at-risk and troubled youth. It will enlighten all into how the world looks through the eyes of these kids.
Rating:
Summary: Great read
Review: I did not intend at first to buy "Orphans of the Living" but after I picked it up in the stacks at my local bookstore, I could not put it down and had to take it home with me. Toth is a terrific, first-rate writer who makes the reader care deeply about some otherwise ignored children. And she opens our eyes to a mess that society would rather sweep under the carpet
Rating:
Summary: Liked it
Review: I enjoyed this book but found that it did not neccesarily apply to my job as a soial worker. I work towards finding permanency for abused and neglected children and while the book is very thorough about the systems used in the various states, my state doesn't work like this, so it was disconcerting at times. Overall, teh way the children interact with adults is very true and the problems facing our kids are the same.
Rating:
Summary: Liked it
Review: I enjoyed this book but found that it did not neccesarily apply to my job as a soial worker. I work towards finding permanency for abused and neglected children and while the book is very thorough about the systems used in the various states, my state doesn't work like this, so it was disconcerting at times. Overall, teh way the children interact with adults is very true and the problems facing our kids are the same.
Rating:
Summary: Eye-Opening
Review: Jennifer Toth describes vibrantly the lives of five extraordinary children who were thrown away by their families and stuck in the nation's mess of a foster-care system. What these kids have to put up with is unreal -- crazy foster parents, judges and inept social workers keen on covering their butts. Toth does a great job of bringing these kids to life, from the day they were born until they reach adulthood. But she also does an important service in exposing the ridiculous obstacles that foster care puts in their way.
Rating:
Summary: Journalism at its best
Review: Jennifer Toth's has crafted incredibly compelling portraits of five children who have been scarred by orphanages and foster care. This book deftly and masterfully combines first-rate storytelling with impressive journalism skills to produce a work that should turn heads across the country. She brings the otherwise forgotten children -- Angel from Los Angeles, Bryan from Chicago, Jamie from Raleigh, and Damien and Sebastien from North Carolina -- completely alive and uses their stories to touch our hearts
Rating:
Summary: Definitely worth the read
Review: Once I was getting on the case of one of my students, who is in foster care, for doing poorly in my class. He just keep saying, "You don't understand, Mr.____. You can't understand." Thanks to Ms. Toth I think I now understand or at least have a better understanding as to why he was doing poorly in my class. Ms. Toth did an excellent job of revealing the horrors that accompany the foster care system and how that system effects the children it supports. I do have a couple criticisms of this book. I can't help thinking that a few of the children chosen for this book are extreme examples (after all one does end up on Jerry Springer). And I think Ms. Toth unfairly demonizes public foster care. Though I am sure public foster care is far from ideal, I suspect that most people who work in that sytem do the best that they can with the limited resources they have available. Those criticisms aside, this book definitely is an eye opener which takes you into a world that few of us know or can even imagine. This is a world that many of our children have to face--alone.
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