‘He’s Our Baby’: What Happens When a Child Is Placed in Foster Care

The opening chapter of To the End of June: The Intimate Life of American Foster Care, the new book by Cris Beam, as recommended by Longreads contributing editor Julia Wick. Thanks to Cris and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for sharing it with the Longreads community:

“In this time period, which can be months or many years, everybody gets a different social worker—the child, the biological parents, and the foster parents. In this time, more lawyers step in and draw up more plans: How often will the parent see the child; what will visitations be like? Where will visits be held; what are the milestones toward reunification? Throughout this, a judge, who in New York City sees about fifty family court cases every day, makes the binding decisions as to who must do what by when.”

Author: Cris Beam
Source: Longreads
Published: Sep 16, 2013
Length: 23 minutes (5,787 words)

Reading List: Believe in Your Selfie

New reading list from Emily Perper featuring picks from The Morning News, Textual Relations, Full Stop, and Pacific Standard.

Source: Longreads
Published: Sep 15, 2013

What Life Is Like for an Executioner’s Family in the 16th Century

An excerpt from the book The Faithful Executioners, by Joel F. Harrington, which was recently featured as a Longreads Member Pick. Thanks to our Longreads Members for making these stories possible—sign up to join Longreads to receive more great stories like this. 

Source: Longreads
Published: Sep 11, 2013
Length: 14 minutes (3,723 words)

College Longreads Pick: ‘The Red & Black Comes Back to Life’ by David Schick, University of Georgia

Every week, Syracuse University professor Aileen Gallagher helps Longreads highlight the best of college journalism. Here’s this week’s pick.

Source: Longreads
Published: Sep 11, 2013

Reading List: Interviews with Awesome Women Authors

New reading list from Emily Perper featuring picks from Guernica, Hazlitt, YALSA, and Bitch Magazine.

Source: Longreads
Published: Sep 8, 2013

College Longreads Pick: ‘Without Rules: The Untold Story of the Johnny Bright Incident’ by Kyle Fredrickson, Oklahoma State University

Every week, Syracuse University professor Aileen Gallagher helps Longreads highlight the best of college journalism. Here’s this week’s pick.

Source: Longreads
Published: Sep 4, 2013

Reading List: Travel and Self-Discovery

New reading list from Emily Perper featuring picks from Emily Anderson, April Xiong, Jamaica Kincaid, and Armin Rosen.

Source: Longreads
Published: Sep 1, 2013

Reading List: What Happens to Whistleblowers After They Speak Out

From Deep Throat to Thomas Drake: Julia Wick selects five classic stories from The New York Times, Mother Jones, Vanity Fair and more.

Author: Julia Wick
Source: Longreads
Published: Aug 26, 2013

Reading List: Examining Technology

New reading list from Emily Perper featuring picks from The New Yorker, Aeon Magazine, and the New Inquiry.

Source: Longreads
Published: Aug 25, 2013

College Longreads Pick: ‘Newtown Youth Sports: A New Normal’ by Isabelle Khurshudyan, University of South Carolina

Every week, Syracuse University professor Aileen Gallagher helps Longreads highlight the best of college journalism. This week’s pick comes from Isabelle Khurshudyan, a student from the University of South Carolina who wrote this story as an intern for ESPN.

Source: Longreads
Published: Aug 21, 2013