The cases they buried, read out loud.
Every week, Adam Neuerburg walks through the CPS, foster care and family court stories the system would rather you never heard — who made the call, what the records show, what it cost, and who still hasn’t answered for it.
Latest episodes
Every episode comes with a full transcript and links to the court records, reports and news coverage behind it.
Ep. 13: Assembly Line Justice: Family Courts Are Factories, and Your Judge’s Wiring Decides Your Fate
Dependency hearings that decide whether children come home are scheduled in 15 to 30 minute blocks, and one mother was scolded for saying a single word. Adam exposes the family court assembly line: unread evidence, closed courtrooms, a study of 619 judges showing bias against both mothers and fathers, and why your outcome can hinge on how the judge you drew by rotation is wired to make decisions. Plus what you can do before your next hearing.
Ep. 12: Just Comply: When Your Own Lawyer Won’t Fight for Your Kids
Termination of parental rights has been called the civil law equivalent of the death penalty, yet a California dependency attorney averages 273 clients against a recommended 77, and the Supreme Court held in 1981 that parents have no absolute right to appointed counsel. Adam exposes why so many court-appointed lawyers tell parents to just do what CPS says, why a shoplifter gets more protection than a parent, and what you can do when your attorney won't fight.
Ep. 11: Divide and Conquer: How CPS Turns Parents Against Each Other
Parents say CPS talked to each of them behind the other's back, rewrote what they said in reports, and pushed one of them out of the home with a so-called voluntary safety plan. One couple says they had to pretend to hate each other just to get the agency off their case. Adam exposes the divide-and-conquer playbook, why only 16.7% of investigated reports are substantiated, and how to protect your family when the system tries to split it.
Ep. 10: They Worked There: Former CPS Insiders Break Their Silence
A former CPS investigator says she could predict a case's outcome by which supervisor was on duty, and describes an adoptive family that received $12,000 a month in subsidies and later bought a yacht. Adam breaks down insider accounts of racial bias in hospital reporting, a baby who nearly entered the system over a fracture that wasn't there, money tied to every child, and a worker scolded for helping a foster youth on her 18th birthday. Plus what parents can do when outcomes depend on who's in the chair.
Ep. 9: Stolen Sobriety: The Drug Tests Taking Kids From Sober Parents
A drug testing company that ran tests for Michigan's Children's Protective Services paid more than $1.3 million to settle federal allegations, after a whistleblower alleged roughly 30 percent of its results were inaccurate. Adam breaks down Georgia's Stolen Sobriety investigation, why sober parents fail hair tests, and how unconfirmed screens get treated as proof. Plus what to do if a drug test is being used against you.
Ep. 8: Falsified: When the Caseworker Writes the Lie and the Judge Believes It
In Georgia, an investigation found more than 800 child welfare workers disciplined in under six years, and 14 percent of them falsified records or lied about checking on children. Adam breaks down a Colorado caseworker charged with 99 counts, a Texas judge who called CPS dishonest after it hid a medical explanation from the court, and why caseworkers who lie so often face no consequences. Plus what parents can do when the paperwork is stacked against them.
Ep. 7: Where Is the Child? How Foster Care Loses Kids to Traffickers
A bipartisan Senate investigation found 1,790 children reported missing from Georgia's foster care system between 2018 and 2022, and more than 410 of them identified as likely sex trafficking victims. Adam walks through that probe, a federal watchdog's findings that Missouri couldn't reliably tell which foster children were even missing, and the estimate that 60 to 70 percent of identified child sex trafficking victims have a history in child welfare.
Ep. 6: Poor Is Not Dangerous: Why 3 in 4 Removals Are Neglect, Not Abuse
Federal data shows about 75% of children removed from their homes are classified as neglect, not physical or sexual abuse, and children in families earning under $15,000 a year are 22 times more likely to be flagged for maltreatment. Adam breaks down what neglect actually means on a CPS form, why it so often describes poverty instead of bad parenting, who gets hit hardest, and what has to change.
Ep. 5: Medical Kidnapping: You Took Your Child to the Hospital. CPS Took Your Child.
A 14-year-old girl spent 16 months in state custody, much of it in a locked psychiatric ward, after doctors at Boston Children's Hospital disagreed with a diagnosis from Tufts Medical Center and accused her parents of medical child abuse. Adam breaks down how medical kidnapping happens in five steps, from a parent seeking care to months or years of separation, and the concrete steps families can take to protect themselves before they ever walk into an exam room.
Ep. 4: $30 Billion to Break Families: Where Foster Care Money Really Goes
The U.S. spends over $30 billion a year on foster care, with an estimated 30 to 50 percent of every dollar going to administration, and up to 10 times more removing children than it would cost to help families stay together. Adam follows the money: $25,000 to $50,000 per child in a foster home, $100,000 or more in a group home, versus $3,000 to $10,000 per family for preservation. Plus the hidden costs nobody counts and what parents can ask for.
Ep. 3: Taken for Their Safety: The Abuse Risk Inside Foster Care
Children are removed from home for their safety, yet a Johns Hopkins study found kids in group foster homes were more than 28 times more likely to be abused than children in the general population. Adam breaks down why the system keeps missing abuse, walks through three North Carolina cases where adopted children died after passing through the state's own pipeline, and explains what parents can do now.
Ep. 2: Safer? The Foster Care Death Math No One Wants to Show
The system says removal keeps kids safe. But put the numbers side by side and children in foster care die at about 25 to 50 per 100,000 a year, against about 27 for every other child in America. Adam breaks down why those deaths are probably undercounted, how placement instability raises the risk, and how adopted children in North Carolina vanished without anyone noticing.
Ep. 1: The Worker, Not the Family: A Former CPS Caseworker Says the Quiet Part Out Loud
A former CPS caseworker who grew up in foster care says whether your children are taken often has nothing to do with you — it depends on which worker knocks on your door. Adam breaks down Lisa Border's account: 30% caseworker turnover, workers deciding removals before they're trained, leading questions with kids, poverty treated as neglect, and why parents are shut out of their own court cases. Plus what to do if CPS is at your door.
Trailer: Let the Silenced Speak
What the Father's Advocacy Network podcast is, who it's for, and why we're doing it. New episodes weekly.
Built for parents in the fight — and everyone who should be.
One case, start to finish
We take a single story from our newsroom and lay out the timeline: the report, the removal, the hearings, and the people who signed off.
Follow the money
Federal reimbursements, per-child placement rates, contracts and bonuses. When the system says it’s about safety, we check who gets paid.
Know what you’re facing
Plain-language breakdowns of your rights in an investigation and in court — so you walk in prepared. FAN is not a law firm; this isn’t legal advice.
Hosted by Adam Neuerburg
Adam founded Father’s Advocacy Network to give families a voice against a system that too often removes first and asks questions later. The podcast carries the same standard as our newsroom: named sources, public records, and corrections when we get something wrong.
https://fathersadvocacynetwork.com/feed/podcast/
