This book investigates the systemic exploitation of children within the American psychiatric and residential treatment industry. Louise Armstrong utilizes investigative reporting to expose the financial incentives that drive the institutionalization of youth labeled as emotionally disturbed. She argues that these facilities often function as mechanisms of social control rather than therapeutic environments, prioritizing profit margins over the well-being of the children in their custody.

Experts and critics recognize this work as a significant contribution to the critique of the institutionalization of minors in the United States. Readers frequently note the investigative depth of the prose and the author's commitment to highlighting systemic failures in child welfare systems.