Ep. 268 Over Burdened and Under Funded by Roxanna Asgarian

The Stacks

Traci Thomas

Literature, Society & Culture, Books, Arts

4.8 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 24 May 2023

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Journalist and author Roxanna Asgarian joins The Stacks to talk about her new nonfiction book, We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America. We find out how Roxanna pushed back against true crime culture in writing about the 2018 Hart family tragedy. We also discuss how birth families are treated versus adoptive parents, how race and class factor into American child welfare and the financial implications of the system.

The Stacks Book Club selection for May is This Boy We Made by Taylor Harris. We will discuss the book on May 31st with Nicole Chung.

You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks' website:

https://thestackspodcast.com/2023/05/24/ep-268-roxanna-asgarian

Episode Transcript

Connect with Roxanna: Instagram | Twitter

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You guys, the live and the stacks tour is underway.
0:03.8	We had an incredible night in Oakland filled with bookish conversations, hot takes, games,
0:08.8	cocktails. If you missed it, I'm sorry, but don't worry, it's not too late to see the stacks live
0:15.3	in one of our next four stops. Join me in Chicago with Samantha Erby on August 27th
0:21.6	in Washington, D.C. with Jason Reynolds on September 24th in New York City with KSA
0:26.9	Laman on September 25th and in L.A. on October 18th with some extra special guests that we will be
0:33.6	announcing real soon. Tickets are selling fast so head to the stackspodcast.com slash tour and
0:40.6	get your tickets before we sell out. Welcome to the stacks of podcast about books and the people who
0:55.2	read them. I'm your host Tracy Thomas and today we are joined by Roxana Azgarian. She's a journalist
1:00.8	writer for the Texas Tribune and author of the new book We Were Once a Family, a story of love,
1:05.6	death, and child removal in America. This book is so fantastic. It is one of the best things I have
1:12.2	read this year easily. It's a shocking and harrowing account of the 2018 Heart Family Murder Suicide
1:19.2	that claimed the lives of six black children at the hands of their white adoptive mothers.
1:24.2	The book is riveting. It's an exposé and an indictment on our foster care system.
1:28.4	And today Roxana and I talk about the true crime genre, the flaws in the child welfare system,
1:33.6	the ways we treat birth families and so much more. Remember our Maybook Club Pick is this boy we made
1:39.4	a memoir of motherhood, genetics, and facing the unknown by Taylor Harris. We will discuss the book
1:44.6	on May 31st with Nicole Chung. Quick reminder, everything we talk about on each episode of the
1:49.8	stacks can be found in the link in the show notes. And if you love the stacks and you want more of
1:55.1	it like our incredible community on Discord, our bonus episodes are monthly meetups to discuss
1:59.5	our book club picks and more join the stacks pack on Patreon. It's just five dollars a month and
2:04.5	you get all of that plus you get to know that you're part of making this book podcast possible.
	...

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