Harrowing.

[Asgarian's] bracing gut punch of a book, We Were Once a Family, is a provocative mix of immersive narrative journalism, rigorous social policy analysis and proud advocacy. It pulls back the focus from the horrific crash to investigate, thoroughly and intimately, why these six children were sent out of Texas in the first place.

Moving and superbly reported.

Asgarian's tenacious and vulnerable reporting reveals the foundation of this intensely disturbing story.

With fiercely empathetic narrative journalism reminiscent of journalist Svetlana Alexievich...Asgarian herself only appears in moments in which the adoptees and biological families’ narratives are enhanced; she brings Dontay and his caregiver to court appointments, or retrieves photos and ashes of the children to bring to the birth families.

...make[s] clear how both systems have largely disregarded the problem that most families within them face: not necessarily the death of parents, but poverty.

This personal narrative twines around a history of the arbitrary, woefully inadequate legislation and funding at both state and federal levels accorded to orphaned and foster children in the U.S..

A searching examination.

Comprehensive and searing.