Cast Away Kids

Every year, tens of thousands of children-not because they are dangerous or criminal, but because they survived unspeakable trauma, lost parents, or faced placement disruptions in a fractured foster care system-are locked away in residential treatment facilities and congregate care. In this gripping, data-driven public sociology exposé, Dr. Cassandra Shenigo dismantles the multi-billion-dollar institutional pipeline warehousing America’s most vulnerable youth. Drawing from peer-reviewed research, economic analyses, and frontline case studies, Cast Away Kids exposes how perverse federal funding formulas, institutional inertia, and defensive risk-aversion incentivize locking children up rather than investing in proven, community-based alternatives like Multisystemic Therapy and Treatment Foster Care Oregon. Blending rigorous sociological evidence with raw narrative urgency, this book reveals the devastating human and financial toll of institutionalizing children, and offers a clear roadmap to dismantle the congregate care system once and for all.