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mhall 's review for:
A gutwrenching, cleanly written memoir about growing up with an abusive mother, this book recounts Regina's childhood. She raised her younger siblings during her mother's absences, and she was the target of her mother's rage and physical abuse. Her older sisters had in turn raised her, and as they left to live with friends and boyfriends, Regina more and more is on her own, taking care of a younger brother and sister, trying to shoplift and glean food, cook it, and come up with dumpstered clothes and bedding. She is 11. She talks a lot about wanting her siblings to stay together, because the foster system would place them apart. When that happens, not only do the siblings experience abusive foster families, but they are stymied in various legal ways that allow their mother to retain guardianship of some of them.
This was ultimately inspiring, in part because of Regina's perseverance and success, and also because it was refreshing to hear her talk so candidly about why she chooses as an adult to work in public service. She states that she is interested in how resources are allocated, and in knowing why some people have so much less, and this seems like such an often unacknowledged but important point of view - to want to help others and to make "the system" work better. It also was difficult to read because it was such a stark reminder that children have fewer legal rights and less legal standing than adults. It seems appalling that a system, often staffed by uncaring or incompetent people, can make fundamental decisions about where a child lives, who they live with, and whether they can see their family, often against a child's spoken wishes, and often by assuming the child is lying or exaggerating.
This was ultimately inspiring, in part because of Regina's perseverance and success, and also because it was refreshing to hear her talk so candidly about why she chooses as an adult to work in public service. She states that she is interested in how resources are allocated, and in knowing why some people have so much less, and this seems like such an often unacknowledged but important point of view - to want to help others and to make "the system" work better. It also was difficult to read because it was such a stark reminder that children have fewer legal rights and less legal standing than adults. It seems appalling that a system, often staffed by uncaring or incompetent people, can make fundamental decisions about where a child lives, who they live with, and whether they can see their family, often against a child's spoken wishes, and often by assuming the child is lying or exaggerating.