Raising our children's children: room in the heart - second edition release July 2014
Grandparents as parents are becoming common in our culture, but we as a society do not understand all the issues involved. Situations where grandparents have informal custody remain grossly underreported. Custody battles, housing issues, prior mistreatment of the children, and the failure of social service systems to protect children – these are some of the issues faced by many caregiving grandparents. Most of all, these extended families must relearn how to be a family.
This is a hopeful book of families who have weathered the severest storms and emerged perhaps not unscathed, but certainly unbowed and ready to help others. The stories the grandparents and grandchildren tell are the vivid tales of families in flux. They offer a window on life-and-death struggles – stories of abuse, addition, and abandonment; stories of healing, redemption and rescue; stories that need to be heard. As we accompany them on their journeys, we realize that with the merest flicker of fortune, their paths could be our paths as well.
This is a hopeful book of families who have weathered the severest storms and emerged perhaps not unscathed, but certainly unbowed and ready to help others. The stories the grandparents and grandchildren tell are the vivid tales of families in flux. They offer a window on life-and-death struggles – stories of abuse, addition, and abandonment; stories of healing, redemption and rescue; stories that need to be heard. As we accompany them on their journeys, we realize that with the merest flicker of fortune, their paths could be our paths as well.
REVIEWS:
“Well written and moving” --Library Journal
“An extraordinary book that provides a moving and rare opportunity to see behind typically closed doors. Through Doucette’s courageous and wonderfully honest self-reflective account of each family’s struggle, we come to understand more about the society in which we live.”
--Stacey Kabat, co-producer/co-director of Defending Our Lives, Academy Award winning short documentary.
“Well written and moving” --Library Journal
“An extraordinary book that provides a moving and rare opportunity to see behind typically closed doors. Through Doucette’s courageous and wonderfully honest self-reflective account of each family’s struggle, we come to understand more about the society in which we live.”
--Stacey Kabat, co-producer/co-director of Defending Our Lives, Academy Award winning short documentary.