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Title: Turning Stones: My Days and Nights with Children at Risk: A Caseworker's Story
ISBN: 0449912353
Author:
Marc Parent
Anna Quindlen (foreword)
Publicate Date: 1998-01-27
Publish: 1998-01-27
List Price: $14.95
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $8.30
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $6.50
Amazon Merchant Price: $10.17
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Excellent book
I really enjoyed this book. I work for Child Protective Services (investigations) myself and rereading this book recently helped motivate me and remind me why I am in this field. Some cases live in your head forever, and I can relate to some of the feelings and experiences described by the author. Definitely recommended.
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2: Too much to read !!!
It was hard to get into,it was supposed ot be about cases and a caseworker, and the stories are pretty cool but he spent 3 pages talking about mumbo jumbo..stuff that wasn't irrelevant.
The cases weren't as bad as other books I 've read on this subject.
it was ok but i wouldn't read it again
t
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3: wild stories, soberly told
When a book has 'children at risk' in the subtitle, you might expect some bloviating op-ed column in book form rife with numerous stats and a preening sense of self-importance in its outrage ("I'm a prophet. Hear me roar!").
But this author primarily tells stories, cases he dealt with as a NYC Emergency Child Services caseworker. By virtue of the sweat and tears of his experience, the author is able to relay wild heartbreaking stories without getting mired in a sentimental or sensational mood.
"...how quickly, with a simple twist of the dial, the deepest calm can turn to chaos--how stealthy the chaos is and what a convincing costume of serenity it wears..." The author shows how the rationale behind seemingly horrific acts can follow some kind of logic underneath. A boy considers killing his baby brother, but not because the boy is demon possessed. Two caseworkers remove a child who is kicking and screaming in front of disgusted onlookers, but are really following the protocols of their job as best as they can under the circumstances.
This book is a real eye opener into some dark corners where children have lived. Still, the author rounds out the book with some sobering, yet heartening things to say. "Where despair and abuse spread back across generations, there are no such things as knockout punches." "The only way to lose this fight is to stop fighting."
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4: Author RETURNABLE GIRL
As social workers we need to always advocate for chilldren at risk, unfortunately there are some fundamental flaws to the "system" which makes even our most caring workers burn out too fast. A real, gripping, honest portrayal raises this book high above the rest. For a fictional account, readers might want to check out RETURNABLE GIRL, about a teen in foster care who must choose between the woman who wants to adopt her and the mother who abandoned her.
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5: This is a book that sticks with you
Fresh out of college, Parent left rural Wisconsin for New York City and applied for a job at Emergency Child Services, which covered critical abuse and neglect cases during nights and weekends. He shares with us some of his most dramatic and intense cases, as well as his personal reflections. During his fourth year on the job, he makes a poor judgment call that has tragic consequences. In his ensuing depression, he remembers a story he heard in junior high about some old nuns turning stones in the desert...and comes to an energizing insight. I would highly recommend this book, particularly for anyone who works in human services and feels burn-out creeping in. If you cannot read the whole book, at least read the last chapter.
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