We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America
(OverDrive MP3 Audiobook, OverDrive Listen)
Description
One of Literary Hub's most anticipated books of 2023
"Narrator Suehyla El-Attar gives an impassioned performance that enhances the touching, terrifying tale of social injustice and systemic failure. Her delivery is compelling and clear, evoking a captivating listening experience from this true-crime tragedy."- Library Journal
The shocking, deeply reported story of a murder-suicide that claimed the lives of six children—and a searing indictment of the American foster care system.
On March 26, 2018, rescue workers discovered a crumpled SUV and the bodies of two women and several children at the bottom of a cliff beside the Pacific Coast Highway. Investigators soon concluded that the crash was a murder-suicide, but there was more to the story: Jennifer and Sarah Hart, it turned out, were a white married couple who had adopted the six Black children from two different Texas families in 2006 and 2008. Behind the family's loving facade, however, was a pattern of abuse and neglect that went ignored as the couple withdrew the children from school and moved across the country. It soon became apparent that the State of Texas knew very little about the two individuals to whom it had given custody of six children—with fateful consequences.
In the manner of Adrian Nicole LeBlanc's Random Family and other classic works of investigative journalism, Roxanna Asgarian's We Were Once a Family is a revelation of vulnerable lives; it is also a shattering exposé of the foster care and adoption systems that produced this tragedy. As a journalist in Houston, Asgarian became the first reporter to put the children's birth families at the center of the story. We follow the author as she runs up against the intransigence of a state agency that removes tens of thousands of kids from homes each year in the name of child welfare, while often failing to consider alternatives. Her reporting uncovers persistent racial biases and corruption as children of color are separated from birth parents without proper cause. The result is a riveting narrative and a deeply reported indictment of a system that continues to fail America's most vulnerable children while upending the lives of their families.
A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Formats
If you are having problem transferring a title to your device, please fill out this support form or visit the library so we can help you to use our eBooks and eAudio Books.
More Copies In LINK+
More Details
Reviews from GoodReads
Citations
Roxanna Asgarian. (2023). We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America. Unabridged Macmillan Audio.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)Roxanna Asgarian. 2023. We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America. Macmillan Audio.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)Roxanna Asgarian, We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America. Macmillan Audio, 2023.
MLA Citation (style guide)Roxanna Asgarian. We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America. Unabridged Macmillan Audio, 2023.
Copy Details
| Library | Owned | Available |
|---|---|---|
| Shared Digital Collection | 7 | 3 |
Staff View
QR Code
API Extraction Dates
OverDrive Product Record
- images
- cover:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-100/1493-1/{95E6E7DB-F055-40AB-AC11-258AA1FFA7CA}IMG100.JPG
- type: image/jpeg
- thumbnail:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-200/1493-1/{95E6E7DB-F055-40AB-AC11-258AA1FFA7CA}IMG200.JPG
- type: image/jpeg
- cover150Wide:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-150/1493-1/{95E6E7DB-F055-40AB-AC11-258AA1FFA7CA}IMG150.JPG
- type: image/jpeg
- cover300Wide:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-400/1493-1/{95E6E7DB-F055-40AB-AC11-258AA1FFA7CA}IMG400.JPG
- type: image/jpeg
- cover:
- formats
- identifiers:
- type: ISBN
- value: 9781250883629
- name: OverDrive MP3 Audiobook
- id: audiobook-mp3
- identifiers:
- identifiers:
- type: ISBN
- value: 9781250883629
- name: OverDrive Listen
- id: audiobook-overdrive
- identifiers:
- mediaType
- Audiobook
- primaryCreator
- role: Author
- name: Roxanna Asgarian
- isOwnedByCollections
- True
- title
- We Were Once a Family
- dateAdded
- 2023-03-10T18:08:00Z
- contentDetails
- href: https://link.overdrive.com/?websiteID=141&titleID=8958988
- type: text/html
- account:
- name: Sacramento Public Library (CA)
- id: 1151
- sortTitle
- We Were Once a Family A Story of Love Death and Child Removal in America
- crossRefId
- 8958988
- subtitle
- A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America
- id
- 95E6E7DB-F055-40AB-AC11-258AA1FFA7CA
- starRating
- 0
OverDrive MetaData
- isPublicDomain
- False
- formats
- duration: 07:38:09
- fileName: WeWereOnceaFamily_9781250883629_8958988
- partCount: 7
- fileSize: 218046482
- identifiers:
- type: ISBN
- value: 9781250883629
- rights:
- type: PlayOnPC
- value: 1
- type: PlayOnPCCount
- value: -1
- type: BurnToCD
- value: 1
- type: BurnToCDCount
- value: -1
- type: PlayOnPM
- value: 1
- type: TransferToSDMI
- value: 1
- type: TransferToNonSDMI
- value: 1
- type: TransferCount
- value: -1
- type: CollaborativePlay
- value: 0
- type: PublicPerformance
- value: 0
- type: TranscodeToAAC
- value: 1
- name: OverDrive MP3 Audiobook
- isReadAlong: False
- id: audiobook-mp3
- onSaleDate: 3/14/2023
- samples:
- source: From the book
- formatType: audiobook-overdrive
- url: https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=95e6e7db-f055-40ab-ac11-258aa1ffa7ca&.epub-sample.overdrive.com
- duration: 07:34:12
- fileName: WhatHaveWeDone_9781250883629_8958988
- partCount: 0
- fileSize: 218019627
- identifiers:
- type: ISBN
- value: 9781250883629
- name: OverDrive Listen
- isReadAlong: False
- id: audiobook-overdrive
- onSaleDate: 3/14/2023
- samples:
- source: From the book
- formatType: audiobook-overdrive
- url: https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=95e6e7db-f055-40ab-ac11-258aa1ffa7ca&.epub-sample.overdrive.com
- keywords
- value: Carnegie Medal
- creators
- role: Author
- fileAs: Asgarian, Roxanna
- bioText: Roxanna Asgarian is a Texas-based independent journalist who writes about child welfare and the law. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, New York, and Texas Monthly, among other publications. She received the 2022 J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award for We Were Once a Family.
- name: Roxanna Asgarian
- role: Narrator
- fileAs: El-Attar, Suehyla
- name: Suehyla El-Attar
- publishDate
- 2023-03-14T00:00:00-04:00
- edition
- Unabridged
- isOwnedByCollections
- True
- title
- We Were Once a Family
- fullDescription
One of Literary Hub's most anticipated books of 2023
"Narrator Suehyla El-Attar gives an impassioned performance that enhances the touching, terrifying tale of social injustice and systemic failure. Her delivery is compelling and clear, evoking a captivating listening experience from this true-crime tragedy."- Library Journal
The shocking, deeply reported story of a murder-suicide that claimed the lives of six children—and a searing indictment of the American foster care system.
On March 26, 2018, rescue workers discovered a crumpled SUV and the bodies of two women and several children at the bottom of a cliff beside the Pacific Coast Highway. Investigators soon concluded that the crash was a murder-suicide, but there was more to the story: Jennifer and Sarah Hart, it turned out, were a white married couple who had adopted the six Black children from two different Texas families in 2006 and 2008. Behind the family's loving facade, however, was a pattern of abuse and neglect that went ignored as the couple withdrew the children from school and moved across the country. It soon became apparent that the State of Texas knew very little about the two individuals to whom it had given custody of six children—with fateful consequences.
In the manner of Adrian Nicole LeBlanc's Random Family and other classic works of investigative journalism, Roxanna Asgarian's We Were Once a Family is a revelation of vulnerable lives; it is also a shattering exposé of the foster care and adoption systems that produced this tragedy. As a journalist in Houston, Asgarian became the first reporter to put the children's birth families at the center of the story. We follow the author as she runs up against the intransigence of a state agency that removes tens of thousands of kids from homes each year in the name of child welfare, while often failing to consider alternatives. Her reporting uncovers persistent racial biases and corruption as children of color are separated from birth parents without proper cause. The result is a riveting narrative and a deeply reported indictment of a system that continues to fail America's most vulnerable children while upending the lives of their families.
A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.- popularity
- 2467
- links
- self:
- href: https://api.overdrive.com/v1/collections/v1L1B3gEAAA2d/products/95e6e7db-f055-40ab-ac11-258aa1ffa7ca/metadata
- type: application/vnd.overdrive.api+json
- shareInLibby:
- href: https://link.overdrive.com/share?q=DLSIAMShdiw
- type: text/HTML
- self:
- id
- 95e6e7db-f055-40ab-ac11-258aa1ffa7ca
- starRating
- 3.9
- images
- cover:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-100/1493-1/{95E6E7DB-F055-40AB-AC11-258AA1FFA7CA}IMG100.JPG
- type: image/jpeg
- thumbnail:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-200/1493-1/{95E6E7DB-F055-40AB-AC11-258AA1FFA7CA}IMG200.JPG
- type: image/jpeg
- cover150Wide:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-150/1493-1/{95E6E7DB-F055-40AB-AC11-258AA1FFA7CA}IMG150.JPG
- type: image/jpeg
- cover300Wide:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-400/1493-1/{95E6E7DB-F055-40AB-AC11-258AA1FFA7CA}IMG400.JPG
- type: image/jpeg
- cover:
- isPublicPerformanceAllowed
- False
- languages
- code: en
- name: English
- subjects
- value: Family & Relationships
- value: Law
- value: True Crime
- value: Nonfiction
- publishDateText
- 03/14/2023
- mediaType
- Audiobook
- shortDescription
One of Literary Hub's most anticipated books of 2023
"Narrator Suehyla El-Attar gives an impassioned performance that enhances the touching, terrifying tale of social injustice and systemic failure. Her delivery is compelling and clear, evoking a captivating listening experience from this true-crime tragedy."- Library Journal
The shocking, deeply reported story of a murder-suicide that claimed the lives of six children—and a searing indictment of the American foster care system.
On March 26, 2018, rescue workers discovered a crumpled SUV and the bodies of two women and several children at the bottom of a cliff beside the Pacific Coast Highway. Investigators soon concluded that the crash was a murder-suicide, but there was more to the story: Jennifer and Sarah Hart, it turned out, were a white married couple who had adopted the six Black children from two different Texas families in 2006 and 2008. Behind the family's loving...- sortTitle
- We Were Once a Family A Story of Love Death and Child Removal in America
- crossRefId
- 8958988
- awards
- source: The National Book Critics Circle
- value: National Book Critics Circle Award
- subtitle
- A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America
- publisher
- Macmillan Audio
- bisacCodes
- code: FAM001010
- description: Family & Relationships / Abuse / Child Abuse
- code: LAW038010
- description: Law / Family Law / Children
- code: TRU002000
- description: True Crime / Murder / General