Reddit reviews Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx

Pretty sure you're thinking of RANDOM FAMILY by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc.

http://www.amazon.com/Random-Family-Drugs-Trouble-Coming/dp/0684863871

My wife is the manager of a GED program for 17-24 year olds in Chicago. I've heard many stories similar to Dukie's (and the rest of the child characters for that matter)...parents stealing from their kids, blatant neglect, nowhere to go, living on friends\family's couches, on the street, gang members who want out with nowhere to go. It's quite disturbing just how many kids out there start so far in the hole. These kids I hear about (and met) are also very street smart, but don't have essential skills to be successful beyond a minimum wage job indicative of failed institutions and social neglect that plague our inner city. Season 4 was so hard for me to watch because of these parallels.

If anyone is interested into getting a further glimpse of the inner-city life, there is a great book my wife had me read called "Random Family". While it is considered a work of fiction, it is written by a social worker who gathered her insight from working in the Bronx for about 11 years and most of the characters are based on real people. I had read it before watching The Wire and gave more context to the kid’s environment.