Childhood Denied: Ending the Nightmare of Child Abuse and Neglect

Childhood Denied: Ending the Nightmare of Child Abuse and Neglect is an exposé of how America ignores and often discards its most vulnerable children. Delving into the political, legal, and social factors of children at risk for abuse and neglect, it chronicles the plight of abused children across the nation and provides a "report card" for each U.S. state. With a practical, journalistic, and social scientific approach, this fervent book emboldens child welfare professionals, government representatives, lawmakers, child attorneys, law enforcers, and the general public to respond more effectively and consistently to the needs of children at risk. Addressing the fact that only 3 percent of foster children graduate from 4-year colleges, author Kathleen Kelley Reardon PhD also introduces in Childhood Denied the concept of university-based Academies for high school-aged foster children to prepare them for success in higher education.  Directly as a result of the publication of this book, the nonprofit First Star made creation of foster Academies its major priority, working with major universities to establish First Star Academies at UCLA, the University of Rhode Island, George Washington University and UConn, with further academies in development.