ABSTRACT
The events of 9/11 activated wide-ranging concern over the traumatization of a large population-and saw the commitment of vast resources to address its needs. The editors have elected to conclude this volume by considering a huge population of Americans in severe distress whose very existence is conveniently forgotten most of the time-children in foster-care placement. Francine Cournos is the author of City of One, a moving testament to the suffering of these children, passages from which are reprised here. Were this book more widely disseminated, it might surpass Robertson's film, A Child Goes to the Hospital, in terms of social impact.
The fact is that there are half a million children in foster care at any one time in this country. What befalls these children in the ordinary course of events as part of the daily institutional regimens of city and state agencies must not be allowed to continue. The consensus of the scientific community should now join the personal testimony of those who have survived the system in the call for fundamental change.
