This book will tell the story of how states and their human service agencies are partnering with private companies to form a vast poverty industry, turning America’s most vulnerable populations into a source of revenue. My intention is to reveal how the resulting industry is strip- mining billions in federal aid and other funds from impoverished families, abused and neglected children, and the disabled and elderly poor. As the vulnerable struggle, as advocates strive to assist in their struggle, and as policy experts across the political spectrum debate the best structure for governmental aid programs, a massive siphoning of the safety net is occurring behind the scenes.