poor children

Describes one year in the life of children in the poorest congressional district in the United States, the South Bronx.

Presents a description of a young boy's , Hamilton, life growing up on the steets of a shantytown in Brazil, including information on how he begged for food and shelter, slept on sidewalks, witnessed the effects of illegal drugs, and survived violence and poverty to live with his mother.

Saleem Sinai was born at midnight on the night that India gained its independence and finds, several years later that he is connected to over 1,000 others who were born at the same time--including the one with whom he was switched at birth.

In nineteenth-century England, a young orphan boy lives in the squalid surroundings of a workhouse until he becomes involved with a gang of thieves.

The author, Public Guardian of Cook County, Illinois, an area which includes metropolitan Chicago, uses case studies to expose the failure of the child welfare system, arguing that state agencies and courts are not adequately meeting the needs of abused and neglected children, and discusses ways to make the system work.