Sure enough, her son was eventually taken from her and placed in the foster system for five years, where he also experienced abuse. When it comes to the family policing system, the problem is obvious: Parents are punished for being poor, Black, or both—now with the help of algorithms. The audit surveyed dozens of ACS’s own workers, who consistently reported that allegations of neglect permanently entangle poor families with the family policing system. Year after year, neglect cases and unsubstantiated cases make up the vast majority of the family policing system. The negative consequences of social abandonment were transmuted into child neglect, a crime for which individual parents could be blamed.