Experts on the 10 Sisters Case
Web video special feature:
What would today’s experts think about the 10 Sisters case?
Find out how these child welfare experts view the case of the Waggoner sisters’ separation and whether they think a similar family trauma could happen today.
- How did courts approach child welfare in 1942, when the Waggoner family was separated, compared to today?
- This is a great personal story, but what does it tell us about the history of the family in America?
- What could the girls’ mother, Ruth Waggoner, have done instead of giving up her children?
We asked Mark Testa, University of Illinois associate professor of social work, and Joan Gittens, author of "Poor Relations: The Children of the State of Illinois 1818-1990" and history professor at Southwest Minnesota State University, to comment on the 10 Sisters case in light of today’s laws and attitudes toward child welfare.
