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The Afterline Bureau: Standard of Care
Paperback
Series: The Afterline Bureau, Book 22
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Jan 9 2026
Pages: 124
Weight: 0.39
Height: 0.26 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Care was documented.
Harm was ignored.
The paperwork was perfect.
When a child dies under compliant supervision, the case is cleared before anyone asks what actually happened. The nonprofit responsible followed every rule-at least on paper. Audits were passed. Reports were closed. Liability disappeared.
But one detail doesn't sit right.
As the Afterline Bureau begins a quiet review, they uncover a system built not to protect children, but to outpace accountability. Documentation is generated faster than care. Transfers erase patterns. Internal reviews replace oversight. And the phrase standard of care becomes a shield behind which neglect hides comfortably.
This isn't a conspiracy.
There are no secret societies.
No mythology.
Just lawful language used to make harm acceptable.
As the Bureau moves from intake to intervention, they confront an institution that believes compliance is enough-and will do anything to keep the record clean, even if it means children disappear between checkboxes.
STANDARD OF CARE is a grounded, procedural thriller about modern institutional harm-how systems fail quietly, how responsibility is diluted through policy, and what it takes to interrupt a machine designed to close cases instead of protecting people.
In a world where doing everything right can still mean doing nothing at all, Afterline asks one question:
Who notices when care stops-and what happens when someone finally does?
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