What happens when someone spends more than three decades working inside the child welfare system and decides to write about what he witnessed?

For Lance Hillsinger, retirement did not mean leaving those experiences behind. It gave him the time to turn them into books.

Lance joined me on The Author’s Mic™ to talk about his 34-year career as a child welfare social worker and court investigator, the four nonfiction books that grew from his experiences and interests, and why writing can still be worthwhile even when it is not financially rewarding.

Watch the full episode:

The Author’s Mic™ with Lance Hillsinger

Lance earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology and political science from UCLA before entering a PhD program at Vanderbilt University. He eventually realized academia was not the right path for him, left Vanderbilt with a master’s degree, and returned to California.

After some time searching for work, Lance became a child welfare worker with Los Angeles County.

At that time, the juvenile court and child welfare systems were under significant pressure. Children were entering foster care frequently, and caseworkers were carrying enormous caseloads. When Lance left Los Angeles County after five years, he had 77 children assigned to him.

He later moved to San Luis Obispo County, where he spent another 29 years working primarily on court cases.

Through those decades, Lance saw the child welfare system change. Some of those changes made the system better. Others added more bureaucracy to the work social workers were expected to manage.

He also saw how difficult it was to place children in foster homes that truly matched their needs.

Placement decisions often came down to age, gender, and location because there were not enough foster homes available. There was rarely enough flexibility to consider whether a child who loved books, for example, might thrive in a different family environment than a child who loved sports.

That shortage stayed with him.

In Place of the Parent: Inside Child Protective Services

Lance began writing his first book while he was still working.

In Place of the Parent: Inside Child Protective Services was created to help people understand how the child welfare and juvenile court systems actually operate. There are many assumptions about what happens inside those systems, but most people have never seen the work from the inside.

Lance also wanted the book to encourage more people to become foster parents or guardians.

The child welfare system can change policies and procedures, but children still need safe homes. Without enough qualified foster families, caseworkers have fewer meaningful placement choices.

Lance had completed approximately 95 percent of the manuscript before retiring. He finished the book during the first few months of retirement.

All royalties from In Place of the Parent are donated to Razom, a humanitarian organization supporting Ukraine.

While working on his first book, Lance was already thinking about the next one.

During his career, he saw a clear connection between poverty and the families entering the child welfare system. Many parents whose children were placed in foster care came from poor families and were also dealing with housing instability, substance use, or other pressures.

That led Lance to write Build a Better Bridge: Social Policy for the 21st Century.

The book examines public assistance programs and asks direct questions about the War on Poverty. What has worked? What has not worked? How could these programs be improved?

Lance also looks beyond traditional welfare programs to the larger conditions affecting families, including affordable housing, child care, education, and the regulatory environment.

The book grew from what he observed during his years in child welfare, but it widened the conversation. Instead of looking only at what happens after a family enters the system, Lance began examining some of the conditions that place families at risk in the first place.

Lance’s third book came from a completely different experience.

During a trip to the History of Diving Museum near Key West, Lance and his wife saw footage from one of the first underwater movies. The film was created by a husband-and-wife team around 1917, before the United States entered World War I.

The technology was far ahead of its time, and the woman’s active involvement stood out to Lance. Women were not commonly recognized for participating in work like that during the period.

That experience helped inspire Beyond Amelia: Lesser-Known Women of Yesteryear.

The book explores women whose contributions have not received the same attention as more familiar historical figures. Lance writes about scientists, leaders, entrepreneurs, inventors, and other women whose work helped shape history.

He also examines the relationships behind some of these women. Although women were frequently discouraged or denied opportunities, that was not the entire story. Some had fathers, brothers, husbands, or other men who supported their ambitions and helped them move forward.

Lance wanted to show that history is more complicated than one familiar explanation.

Lance’s fourth book is Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John: A Court Investigator Examines the Gospels.

His years in child welfare showed him how faith could help people survive the crises and tragedies in their lives. Very few of the families he worked with had a meaningful connection to organized religion, but he noticed that those who found faith often developed a greater sense of resilience and purpose.

Lance wanted to write a book for people who might never pick up a traditional Christian book or feel comfortable walking into a church.

Rather than simply repeating familiar religious interpretations, he examines the Gospels through the perspective of a former court investigator. He considers what may be literal, what may be symbolic, and how readers can approach the text through a modern lens without dismissing its spiritual meaning.

For Lance, accepting symbolism does not weaken faith. It can make faith more accessible to people who struggle with the idea that every passage must be interpreted literally.

His standard is straightforward: Which interpretation helps you become a better person?

He does not judge readers who take a more literal view. His purpose is to create room for people who believe, people who question, and people who may be curious but have never felt that traditional religious conversations were speaking to them.

After four nonfiction books, Lance admitted that he is currently feeling burned out on writing.

Writing a book is labor-intensive, and the financial return is not always equal to the work required. Most authors cannot expect their books to replace the income from a traditional career.

But Lance’s books have still given him something important: purpose.

They have allowed him to explain the child welfare system, challenge ideas about public policy, bring overlooked women into the historical conversation, and approach faith from the perspective of someone who spent decades investigating court cases.

That work can reach people he may never meet.

Sometimes that is the value of a book. It carries experience beyond the person who lived it.

Lance Hillsinger’s website
https://www.lancehillsinger.net/

Lance Hillsinger’s books on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Lance-Hillsinger/e/B08WKPDV2T

Lance Hillsinger on Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/20802673.Lance_Hillsinger

Lance Hillsinger on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lance-hillsinger-89b48569

• Lance Hillsinger spent 34 years working in child welfare, including decades handling juvenile court cases.
• His first book explains how the child welfare system operates and encourages more people to consider becoming foster parents or guardians.
• His work in child welfare led him to examine the relationship between poverty, public assistance, housing, and family stability.
• Beyond Amelia brings attention to lesser-known women whose work helped shape history.
• His fourth book examines the Gospels through the perspective of a former court investigator.
• Writing can preserve professional knowledge, challenge familiar assumptions, and give an author purpose beyond book sales.

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