In the first book of its kind, Toth presents the stories of five kids caught in a system in crisis, and chronicles the complexities of a culture that both liberates and hobbles its dependents. In addition to speaking to social workers, judges, officers, counselors, and psychologists, as well as to the remnants of shattered families who can't or won't raise their own children, Toth goes directly to the kids - capturing their voices and lives with striking clarity and poignancy.

These children were thrust into an overburdened and antiquated machine designed to care for Dickensian orphans, not today's "throwaways," who are abused and neglected, often by substitute parents no more prepared to care for a child than were the biological parents.

Following the children, Toth travels to foster care homes, emergency shelters, children's homes, and detention centers. She shares their despair and their triumphs - the midnight phone calls from jails, hospitals, and strip joints; the celebrations of straight-A report cards, graduations, and Congressional honors - as the children demonstrate their humor, hope, and resilience in trying to overcome their society's failure.