A third of America’s children grow up in poverty. Social service workers intervene in family crises to help repair emotional damage, but often exacerbate that damage. Why does poverty continue to be a plague in twenty-first-century America? Why do social service agencies fail in their mission to bring succor to needy families? How did we get to this point? These are questions explored by Attorney Susan G. Neisuler, a lawyer with ten years’ experience in the Juvenile Court of Boston. The author draws on her personal courtroom encounters with the Department of Social Services and the juvenile justice system. Here the reader will find case analysis, related case law, results of relevant research and proposed solutions. In