Patrick Murphy is the Public Guardian of Cook County, Illinois. He represents abused or neglected children in Chicago’s . In his new book Wasted: The Plight of America’s Unwanted Children (Ivan R. Dee, Inc) he argues that while keeping families together may sound like good public policy, there are many cases in which it only endangers the lives of children. His previous book is titled Our Kindly Parent the State. (Viking) (Interview by Barbara Bogaev)