Failure to Protect: A National Dialogue on America’s Child Welfare System
(2003)

FRONTLINE's "Failure to Protect?: A National Dialogue" -- A Columbia/DuPont Award winning co-production of Fred Friendly Seminars and Frontline, with primary editorial consultation provided by Columbia University's Institute for Child and Family Policy -- is an exploration of the complex and heartwrenching decisions made every day by workers and policymakers in the child welfare system. Moderator John Hockenberry, a correspondent for Dateline NBC, presents a realistic hypothetical case to a dozen panelists -- child welfare experts and advocates -- and encourages them to face those same tough decisions. This televised discussion features child welfare experts as they gradually -- and sometimes uncertainly -- work their way through the various steps of the child welfare decision-making process.

Funders: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.