Raising Cain

the long version

Foster and adoptive parents are challenged by society to raise the child with extraordinary emotional and behavioral problems, the child marked by his past, the child whose future without help looks grim. In effect, we ask these parents to not only "Raise Cain" but to raise him better. But if we ask foster and adoptive parents to raise society's abused and neglected youngsters, our system (legal, welfare, and mental health) must better attend to the best interests of its children and of those who care for Cain. Raising Cain challenges failings in the legal, welfare, and mental health system that undermine the best interests of foster and adoptive children. It protests, confronts, and "Raises Cain" about basic, but reparable flaws in our present system of care.