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Turning Stones: My Days and Nights with Children at Risk: A Caseworker's Story
by Marc Parent

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/313465.Turning_Stones_My_Days_and_Nights_with_Children_at_Risk_A_Caseworker_s_Story?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Turning Stones: My Days and Nights with Children at Risk: A Caseworker's Story" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1173675893m/313465.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/313465.Turning_Stones_My_Days_and_Nights_with_Children_at_Risk_A_Caseworker_s_Story?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Turning Stones: My Days and Nights with Children at Risk: A Caseworker's Story</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/154199.Marc_Parent">Marc Parent</a><br/><br/>
  <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2984103?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
  rating: 2 of 5 stars<br/>Children are not stone.  Children have deep flowing roots grounded in complex ecological structures.  When working with children involved in CPS there needs to be emphasis on the importance of valuing both the individual as well as the system in which leads to structural degradation and subsequent social patterns within groups.  While a child’s life can ultimately be affected by the decision of an ECS worker, individual problems are the consequence of the societal problems at large.  Structural barriers such as access to health care facilities, lack of available mental health services, and severe economic poverty are what can often lead parents to patterns of abuse and neglect.  One worker’s decision in the course of a night cannot undo the years of systematic oppression that ultimately influences the choices of the neglectful and abusing parent.  Even when children are removed from their homes this does not make them any less bound by their roots.      
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<br/>It is naïve to believe that removing a child from his/her home has saved a life.  Indeed in a sense a life has been removed from immediate harm; however, until the structural barriers affecting those living in poverty can be tore down, the life is only temporarily out of harm’s way.  Child saving cannot be as simple as turning a stone and walking away.  Cycles of poverty and violence often keep those involved in CPS as children involved throughout adulthood as well.  Marc Parent fails to acknowledge any of this in his text. 
  <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/181820?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Kara's review
rating:
bookshelves: child-welfare

Children are not stone. Children have deep flowing roots grounded in complex ecological structures. When working with children involved in CPS there needs to be emphasis on the importance of valuing both the individual as well as the system in which leads to structural degradation and subsequent social patterns within groups. While a child’s life can ultimately be affected by the decision of an ECS worker, individual problems are the consequence of the societal problems at large. Structural barriers such as access to health care facilities, lack of available mental health services, and severe economic poverty are what can often lead parents to patterns of abuse and neglect. One worker’s decision in the course of a night cannot undo the years of systematic oppression that ultimately influences the choices of the neglectful and abusing parent. Even when children are removed from their homes this does not make them any less bound by their roots.

It is naïve to believe ...more

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message 1: by Meaghan

10/04/2007 04:31PM

Is this a book review or a rant against CPS? You didn't even mention the book until the last sentence.