The Caseworker's Memoirs

The Caseworker's Memoirs
Author: Dan Thompson
Publisher: Dan Thompson
Total Pages: 56
Release: 2014-03-20
Genre:
ISBN:

"I feel old. Terribly old. I no longer recognise the man, whose face is filled with such sadness and unfulfilled ambitions, glaring back at me. It's the shadow of me; a darker, duller shade that shells inside a lonely old man." ... And so begins The Caseworker's Memoirs. Malcolm was losing touch with the world; a retired counsellor and recently widowed, he lived each day sat at his desk, watching the world pass him by. That’s until his daughter gave him a leather-bound notebook. She encouraged him to write about times long past that he shared with his loving wife, but as dreams of his previous patients take hold of him, he has no choice but to share his experiences and thoughts. This is Malcolm’s attempt to rid himself of his pent-up guilt, his emotional involvement with the people he feels he has failed, but perhaps most of all, his attempt to have a purpose in life. From the rational fear of heights to the peculiar fear of time, from the obsessive fear of terrorism to the psychological ignorance of homophobia, The Caseworker’s Memoirs is not only a tale of one man’s grief, but also the tale of seven other people that are affected by real phobias. This is a modern contemporary drama that will pull on the heartstrings as well as capture your imagination.

Three Little Words

Three Little Words
Author: Ashley Rhodes-Courter
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2008-01-08
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1416948066

Rhodes-Courter spent nine years of her life in 14 different foster homes. In this unforgettable memoir, the author recounts her years growing up in the foster care system, revealing painful memories but also her determination to discover the power of her own voice.

Wednesday's Children

Wednesday's Children
Author: Kathryn Anne Michaels
Publisher: Monkeypaw Press
Total Pages: 198
Release: 2018-03
Genre:
ISBN: 9780998135564

Delivering welfare babies, warding off voodoo spells, and living in a town that still seems to be fighting the Civil War-small wonder young RN Kate Jacobs quickly grows disenchanted with nursing in the Lowcountry of coastal South Carolina. When a friend urges her to switch from nursing to paramedic medicine and child protection social work, Kate accepts the challenge and finds herself in an isolated rural area of the Appalachian Mountains. Here a new set of challenges await: technical cliff rescues and hikes into remote back-country "hollers" to remove child victims of sexual assault from their homes only to have an indifferent judge order them back the next day, and dealing with some of America's poorest and most distrustful citizens. And from all appearances, and even though she's white, former members of the Ku Klux Klan have just set her house on fire... Based on the memoirs of a registered nurse-turned-social worker, this is a tale of heartbreak and laughter, courage and cowardice seasoned with a candid look at the early days of social work and emergency rescue medicine that will both challenge and renew your faith in humanity. Warning: Some graphic content

Turning Stones

Turning Stones
Author: Marc Parent
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Total Pages: 402
Release: 1998-01-27
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0449912353

“An absorbing piece of narrative nonfiction . . . A rare glimpse of what it is like to man these front lines of the war on child abuse—and what it does to a person’s soul. . . . Devastating [and] mesmerizing.”—The Los Angeles Times Featuring a new Afterword by the author Why does an infant die of malnutrition? Why does an eight-year-old hold a knife to his brother’s throat? Or a mother push her cherished daughter twenty-three floors to her death? Marc Parent, a city caseworker, searched the streets—and his heart—for the answers, and shares them in this powerful, vivid, beautifully written book.

A Life Divided

A Life Divided
Author: Jan Canty
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2020-06
Genre:
ISBN: 9780578685922

Narrative nonfiction true crime memoir in which a psychologist describes the fallout from her spouse's murder and how she regained her momentum.

The Little Ghost Girl

The Little Ghost Girl
Author: Maggie Hartley
Publisher: Trapeze
Total Pages: 211
Release: 2016-09-08
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 140916540X

Ruth was a ghost of a girl when she arrived into foster mother Maggie Hartley's care. Pale, frail and withdrawn, it was clear to Maggie that Ruth had seen and experienced things that no 11-year-old should have to, that she's been conditioned to 'see no evil, speak no evil'. Ruth is in desperate need of help, but can Maggie get through to her and unlock the harrowing secret she carries? Through love, reassurance and patience, Maggie starts to unravel Ruth's painful past - a past defined by cruelty and abuse by the very people who should have protected her. Raised by a cruel stepmother and her father after her own mum abandoned her, Ruth was abused, underfed and ignored, while her half-siblings lived a life of luxury. It's up to Maggie to help Ruth find her voice; to be a ghost no more, and bring those who've harmed her to justice. A true story of hope from Sunday Times bestselling author Maggie Hartley, a foster carer for over 20 years. *The Little Ghost Girl was originally published in 2016* 'Captivated from beginning to end' 5* Amazon reader review

Invisible Child

Invisible Child
Author: Andrea Elliott
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 640
Release: 2021-10-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0812986962

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • A “vivid and devastating” (The New York Times) portrait of an indomitable girl—from acclaimed journalist Andrea Elliott “From its first indelible pages to its rich and startling conclusion, Invisible Child had me, by turns, stricken, inspired, outraged, illuminated, in tears, and hungering for reimmersion in its Dickensian depths.”—Ayad Akhtar, author of Homeland Elegies ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Atlantic, The New York Times Book Review, Time, NPR, Library Journal In Invisible Child, Pulitzer Prize winner Andrea Elliott follows eight dramatic years in the life of Dasani, a girl whose imagination is as soaring as the skyscrapers near her Brooklyn shelter. In this sweeping narrative, Elliott weaves the story of Dasani’s childhood with the history of her ancestors, tracing their passage from slavery to the Great Migration north. As Dasani comes of age, New York City’s homeless crisis has exploded, deepening the chasm between rich and poor. She must guide her siblings through a world riddled by hunger, violence, racism, drug addiction, and the threat of foster care. Out on the street, Dasani becomes a fierce fighter “to protect those who I love.” When she finally escapes city life to enroll in a boarding school, she faces an impossible question: What if leaving poverty means abandoning your family, and yourself? A work of luminous and riveting prose, Elliott’s Invisible Child reads like a page-turning novel. It is an astonishing story about the power of resilience, the importance of family and the cost of inequality—told through the crucible of one remarkable girl. Winner of the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize • Finalist for the Bernstein Award and the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award

Foster Care Odyssey: A Black Girl's Story

Foster Care Odyssey: A Black Girl's Story
Author: Theresa Cameron
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2008
Genre: African American women
ISBN: 9781604736212

Abandoned by her teenage mother in 1954 to a overwhelmingly white charity organization so begins Theresa's life as a 'ward of the state' of New York. She shares the heartbreaking struggle to survive in a foster care system where children's welfare often seemed the lowest priority.

Hand to Mouth

Hand to Mouth
Author: Linda Tirado
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2015-09-01
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0425277976

The real-life Nickel and Dimed—the author of the wildly popular “Poverty Thoughts” essay tells what it’s like to be working poor in America. ONE OF THE FIVE MOST IMPORTANT BOOKS OF THE YEAR--Esquire “DEVASTATINGLY SMART AND FUNNY. I am the author of Nickel and Dimed, which tells the story of my own brief attempt, as a semi-undercover journalist, to survive on low-wage retail and service jobs. TIRADO IS THE REAL THING.”—Barbara Ehrenreich, from the Foreword As the haves and have-nots grow more separate and unequal in America, the working poor don’t get heard from much. Now they have a voice—and it’s forthright, funny, and just a little bit furious. Here, Linda Tirado tells what it’s like, day after day, to work, eat, shop, raise kids, and keep a roof over your head without enough money. She also answers questions often asked about those who live on or near minimum wage: Why don’t they get better jobs? Why don’t they make better choices? Why do they smoke cigarettes and have ugly lawns? Why don’t they borrow from their parents? Enlightening and entertaining, Hand to Mouth opens up a new and much-needed dialogue between the people who just don’t have it and the people who just don’t get it.