‘Take Care of Maya’
Take Care of Maya, a new Netflix documentary that began streaming last week, sheds light on an issue that so many poor and minority families in the U.S. are already painfully familiar with, which is that child protection services in the U.S. have the power to destroy families, with very little evidence needed. Directed by Henry Roosevelt, the documentary follows a young girl named Maya Kowalski, who began to exhibit symptoms of a rare disease when she was 9 years old. After many different doctors and hospitals, she was finally able to get help. Then, one fateful night when her symptoms resurfaced, Maya’s father brought her to the pediatric emergency room at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida. The hospital suspected abuse, and within a matter of days, Maya was ripped away from her family and taken in by the state. It’s a horrifying story that only gets worse as you watch, but you won’t be able to look away.