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William Ayers brings a reporter's eye and an activist's heart to this well-written and profoundly disturbing book, A Kind and Just Parent: The Children of Juvenile Court. Ayers, who teaches offenders in Chicago's juvenile court system, is a brilliant storyteller, the damning fly on the wall. His book portrays the lives of his students--both within the juvenile temporary detention center and on the "outside." Ayers puts their stories into historical context; argues passionately about the roles of media, poverty, and neglect; refutes the idea of teenager as "superpredator"; and challenges parents--all of us--to ask the question, "Is this good enough for my child?" when determining the standard to use when we think of justice for kids.
Book Description
Most people know juvenile offenders only from daily headlines, and the images portrayed by the media are extreme and violent: predators and even "superpredators." Distorted and incomplete, these pictures shape the way Americans think and feel about city kids, poor kids, children of color. A Kind and Just Parent gives us a transformative view of kids caught up in the justice system that we could never get from nightly news and newspaper stories. William Ayers has spent five years as teacher and observer in Chicago's Juvenile Court prison, the nation's first and largest institution of juvenile justice, founded by legendary reformer Jane Addams to act as a "kind and just parent" for kids in need. Today, immensely confused and confusing, it serves as a perfect microcosm of the way American justice deals with children. Through brilliant storytelling, Ayers captures the lives and personalities of young people caught up in the juvenile justice system. The book follows a year in the life of the prison school. Its characters are three dimensional: funny, quirky, sometimes violent, and often vulnerable. We see young people talking about their lives, analyzing their own situations, and thinking about their friends and their futures. We watch them throughout a school year and meet some remarkable teachers. From the intimate perspective of a teacher, Ayers gives us portraits, history, and analysis that help us to understand not only what brought these kids into the court system, but why people find it hard to think straight about them, and what we might do to keep their younger brothers and sisters from landing in the same place. Unsentimental yet wrenching, A Kind and Just Parent is a riveting look at kids and crime. It will change the way Americans think about juvenile crime and juvenile justice.
Customer Reviews:
Great stories of juveniles and justice system in trouble........1998-12-31
This is a story of children, real children, still soft inside, and yet with a force field that can put off both the kindest and the most brutal attacks one can inflict. It is a story of a justice system long gone amuck, but often with good intentions, and some surprisingly good people lighting up the corners. Ayers is a good tale-teller, and catches students at the juvenile detention "home" in Chicago - it could just as well be many other places - in moments of anger, despair, humor, joy, self-deception and learning, along with the teachers that carefully try to offer regularity, challenge and choice. For those many to whom juveniles and juvenile detention facilities are not real, this book is a must. For those who know, it will be a renewed inspiration and challenge. For those who want to look further than Ayers points at a the development of our justice system and really systemic changes in the way we handle wrongs, both adult and juvenile, a great place to start would be Howard Zehr's, _Changing Lenses: A New Focus on Crime and Justice_.
This book is powerful, instructive, and brilliant........1998-04-21
Ayers book should be read by all educators who work with young people forgotten by the system. His case studies are brilliantly drawn and teach us a great deal about "juvenile justice". It has provoked discussion of poverty, violence, and social change. It has changed the thinking of many of my students for its clarity, insight, and hope.
Book Description
As seen on "The Today Show" and in People magazine: An adoptive father and award-winning journalist reports on the metamorphosis of adoption from a secretive, shameful procedure to an integral part of American family life.
Adoption is both sweeping the nation and changing it, accelerating our transformation into a more multicultural and multiethnic country and helping to redefine our understanding of "family." Adoption Nation is essential reading for adoptive families, for anyone contemplating adopting a child, and for everyone touched by this extraordinary cultural transformation.
Customer Reviews:
A comprehensive & vital foundation .......2006-05-30
Adam Pertman, CEO of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, gives readers a comprehensive view of how far we have come in adoption reform. Understanding from where we have come is the vital foundation for motivating us to persevere in the areas of adoption in which we all work and strive. Thank you, Adam, for providing the foundation and the impetus to move forward. You have encouraged me in my sphere of influence.
Highly inspirational.......2005-10-05
Those of you who enjoyed ADOPTION NATION might like to know that public television wants to produce a documentary special inspired by this book. Like Adam's book, "Adoption: An American Revolution" will show the ways in which adoption today is increasingly inclusive, expansive, and affirming; the project will also include Web resources and outreach campaigns to schools and communities. Please visit www.adoptionfilm.org to find out how you can help: we must complete our funding by the end of 2005 or risk losing the project entirely! And keep watching the site - we expect to post new interview materials with Adam Pertman soon.
all families are different.......2005-09-12
"All families are different," goes the wisdom being taught our children in progressive schools, and Adam Pertman's _Adoption Nation_ explores and celebrates this difference in the particular context of adoptive families in the United States today. His is the most comprehensive general account I have seen of the contemporary redefinition of American family life being effected by adoption (among other forces). Pertman, himself an adoptive parent, opens the way to a brave new world in which affiliation is as valid a means of family formation as filiation.
Finally - an adoption book everyone in America should read!.......2005-07-28
Adam Pertman gives one of the most complete accounts of adoption today available. This books covers the mistakes of the past, how we got to where we are now - and asks the tough question of where are we headed? As a birthmother who chose open adoption in 1985 (before most people had even heard of it) I am shocked that the age of open adoption has taken so long to be accepted. Pertman correctly identifies the myths that have so long kept families from executing successful arrangements, and he provides the research and stories that may finally put these myths to rest. Respect and honesty are the base for any successful adoption arrangement and this books not only illustrates this, but examines it from each of the adoption member's perspectives. As adoption touches the life of practically every American, in order to understand what you will go through, or your sister, friend or neighbor - read this book!
Pat
Disappointing.......2005-06-29
Having read dozens of books on adoption and foster care, I was looking forward to this book. While some of the ideas were compelling, I found the tone to be too aggressive and some of the facts misleading. I would not recommend this book.
Book Description
"Communicating with your children is at the very heart of parenting. Linda and Richard Eyre continue to reach out to parents with sage advice on nurturing the family's value system. Make a conscious decision to plug into your kid's world. You may not be the only influence in your child's life, but you have to be the biggest."--Dr. Phil McGraw, #1 New York Times best-selling author and host of the TV show Dr. Phil
"The Eyres have created a beautiful new language of natural, nurturing symbols that allow parents and children to communicate in a new and effective way. A truly remarkable book which 'strikes at the root.'"--Stephen R. Covey, Author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families
"Nurturing is not just for parents. Aunts, uncles, grandparents, or anyone who loves a child needs to read this book."--Jane Clayson, ABC News Correspondent
"Mothers have traditionally been the key nurturers in their children's lives. The Eyres' 'natural' approach to principle-centered parenting opens exciting new ways for all of us to nurture family relationships."--Marcia Ford, President, American Mothers Association
The #1 bestselling authors of Teaching Your Children Values show parents how to develop a nurturing environment for their children
All parents want to teach their children good values. But beneath that desire lies a greater need--for a bond of love and trust that keeps children safe, and lets parents participate more fully in their children's lives.
Linda and Richard Eyre, hosts of a monthly segment on the "CBS Early Show," help parents accomplish this in The Book of Nurturing, presenting tools for developing family relationships and turning a house into a home.
They have crafted nine powerful lessons based on stories and parables that can preserve family values and give children a sense of worth and self-esteem, based on:
- Commitment
- Praise, support, and positive affirmation
- Responsibility
- Awareness
- Communication
- Discipline (tough love)
- Consistency
- Security and identity
- Freedom and empowerment
Parents will recognize the wisdom of the nine natural laws and will appreciate the workability of the ideas and application methods. Children will love the images of animals and nature and will feel included and responsive to their parents' initiatives. In a sense, this is a whole new genre of parenting book--written both for parents and for children, giving them a common language of symbols that they can share and use together to build their relationships and strengthen their family.
Customer Reviews:
If "I" like it.... Just get this book-.......2003-07-24
...you won't regret it. I don't usually bother with these kinds of things- my wife bought this one- but this book I can highly recommend. The stories, the lessons the drawings...they are all wonderful. It's a self-help/parenting book for people who don't like self-help/parenting books.
I like the whole nature and animal twist-it "speaks" much better to me than most of these kinds of books (and I'll be honest- I like books with pictures- and so do my two kids!) It's a good book.
Worth Reading Every Year.......2003-06-23
I found "The Book of Nurturing" to be perfectly written and full of wisdom and common sense. Each chapter was profound enough to transform a troubled family, yet simple enough to be adopted with ease. It was delightful to read, yet very clear and concise in its guidance. I plan to read it each year as it will remind me of what is most important in my family.
Book Description
"Betrayal of the Child" is Stewart Rein's explosive new book on children's rights, divorce, custody, and fatherlessness. It is, perhaps, the most comprehensive book on the market. It searches out the historical reasons for our present irrational and injust approach to deciding vitally important children's rights issues, cutting across the various disciplines, analyzing cause and effect. The book is loaded with practical information for fathers, including a Father's Guide to the Courts, cases, laws, abduction information, case analysis, expert evidence and shared parenting stategies. It is also a hard hitting, no drawn punches book of rather severe social, legal, and psychological criticism in which Rein lays to rest the old clichued thinking on "maternal attachment" made popular by John Bowlby-explaining that from the child's perspective there exists a "triad" within the family nexus, consisting of dual father-mother-child dyads.
Customer Reviews:
Knowledge is Power.......2007-09-11
There is nothing like developing an understanding when faced with issues in life that only serve to confuse and bewilder. Reading this book has helped me understand what happened to me and my children and why. This in turn has helped me deal with the problem from a better perspective. It has also helped to alleviate some of the frustration simply by having a more complete understanding of the nature of the problem. And although it may have come too late to change my situation, I can still use this powerful information to try to help other fathers not yet divorced gain an awareness of lies in wait for them should they have the misfortune of receiving divorce papers. When warned beforehand, it is a dereliction of a man's duty as a father to fail to read this indispensible book.
All parent's should be made to read this.......2006-10-31
This book has been an inspiration to me. It points out what happened, why it's bad and suggests how you should proceed.
I beg everyone to read this book. It should make everyone criticize the courts descisions as well as their own beliefs.
Excellent, Straight Information about Critical Issues for men and their children........2005-08-02
I am a divorced Dad and have gone through the Family Court system, unfortunately prior to reading this book. I have raised three children for 13 years; single-handedly and now find myself as an outsider in a custody dispute over my forth child, a 1-year-old son. I must share with anyone (women, men, dads, moms, children) that you must read this book. It is an excellent description of what fathers and their children face in the current Family court climate. Not only describing in a very truthful and non-euphemistic manner the current issues and trends but also how we got here.
One in every two men will face these issues at some point in their lives. However, most are clueless and those that are not clueless, don't seem to care. Even parents (yes, both Moms and Dads) with children who are boys, don't seem to understand just what kind of a position these boys can be in as grown men. How we got here is a sad story of misunderstandings, misbelieves, poor science, poor deduction, and clouded views, but the fact that we are still here despite significant and continually mounting evidence, is truly a shame and one of the biggest, yet "secret" failures, of our society.
If you do not read this book for yourself then read it for your son or any boy that you know will some day be a father.
It's about time........2004-01-17
While being in a city and state that supposedly supports "father's rights", my husband and I are terrified of what we are setting into motion next week- trying to get custody of his daughter.
Despite the fact that his ex is lying about where his child support is going (luckily we have proof), her moving out of state (illegal in this state), changing his daughter's last name, refusing to let her call him "daddy" and the fact that he hasn't seen her in months (those are just the the tip of the iceburg)... there is that doubt. Because she is "The Mother".
It seems that unless a woman is on drugs or a mental institution (actually in a hospital, because meds, or refusal to take them, isn't enough apparently) the father is at the mercy of the mother's every bad day.
So we go, to possibly spend thousands of dollars, just to make the messed up court system acknowledge a beautiful, bright, six year old girl's right to know her father, any new siblings, and her father's extended family. Maybe.
And if this book seems a little "pro-man", and therefor "anti-woman", so be it. There are plenty of "empowering" books for women, why not men?
Children as Fodder in the Downfall of Society.......2002-07-31
In short, if you don't know the material in this book, you don't know human rights, (including children's rights, men's or father's rights, and women's rights) as it applies in contemporary western society. If you have yet to emancipate yourself from the radical feminist induced mental slavery, you may not be ready for this book.
I've read several highly regarded father and children's rights books, and find this one by far the best. This book makes it apparent why the most staggering human rights violations in the history of the world are being perpetrated by the state and federal governments of the United States and the United Kingdom, in particular, against their own laws and ratified treaties with the United Nations. It is concerned with no less than government coerced self-implosion, using our precious children as fodder by dysfunctional, deviant, and self-appointed misandrists.
Now I finally understand why my children's lives are being ruined and I, as their father, can do nothing to prevent it. My question as to why those sworn to uphold the law in the state of Iowa would intentionally break the law, knowingly ensuring that my children will then be subjected to neglect, and physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, has finally been answered. This book makes it clear why any attempt to protect my children is met with hostility towards me, and additional abuse being forced upon them. And the detrimental lifelong consequences to my children, and to their own descendants, are becoming quite clear.
This book is for anyone truly concerned with children, men, women, our society, our descendants, or our future. Unless you find widespread, state sponsored torture and deprivation to humans desirable, I suggest you purchase and read this great work immediately, and then seriously consider taking action to prevent the downfall of western civilization.
Thank you Stewart, for your great and noble work for children.
Book Description
From America's most authoritative source of legal advice comes a time-saving, money-saving guide that will help individuals, couples, and families protect themselves, their assets, and their loved ones. Includes helpful information for unmarried couples, gay and lesbian couples, and unconventional families.
Book Description
Each year hundreds of children around the world are born to lesbian mothers who conceived through alternative insemination. This unique form of family-making creates families with no legal or psychological father, and challenges some of our most basic assumptions about what it means to be a family. How and why do lesbians use insemination to build their families? How best could it be protected by law? Is it a feminist issue? Is insemination the ultimate in lesbian liberation or a sell-out to nuclear family norms? How are race, class, and human engineering involved? Drawing on legal findings and personal interviews, as well as medical and psychoanalytic research, sociologist Amy Agigian looks at the impact and potential of this form of reproduction.
Baby Steps is the first in-depth discussion of the issues and questions raised by lesbian insemination, and the book has been designed to serve the interests of general readers and health care providers as well as teachers and students in women's studies, gay and lesbian studies, sociology, legal studies, and bioethics.
Customer Reviews:
Lesbians.......2006-11-28
I think all women should be able to decide how to live their lives and raise their children, whether with another woman, a man, both, or neither. Baby steps provides an alternative way to get pregnant without being penetrated by a man's [...].
Book Description
In the only book to make sense of the worlds of adoption and fertility treatment, Bartholet combines moving personal narrative with compelling policy analysis. Family Bonds is newly available at a time when more children than ever are waiting to be adopted and infertility treatment is not only a growing business but also an increasingly expensive and sophisticated technology. "A jewel. . . . Recommended to anyone contemplating or involved with adoption and to any citizen concerned about the welfare of children in our society." -Carolyn Moore Newberger, The Boston Globe "It would take a book-a very smart and sane book-to deal with these matters and come to the aid of the parties to adoption, and, on the bright side of coincidence, someone is about to publish it [Family Bonds]. -The New Yorker "Anyone seeking to become a parent should both heed and take heart from Elizabeth Bartholet. Family Bonds is at once powerful testimony to the robust ties adoptive families form and an urgent plea for the rights and needs of children everywhere." -Diane Cole, Newsday "Essential reading for policymakers, lawyers, and child welfare workers." -Joan Hollinger, editor, Adoption Law and Practice
Customer Reviews:
Compassionate ideas.......2003-06-19
I found Elizabeth Bartholet's view of parenting to be thoughtful, intelligent and compassionate. As the birth mother of one, this book made me want to consider adoption as a compassionate way to expand my family -- even without fertility problems as the motivation.
Family Bonds.......2002-12-22
If you're an adoptee or birthmother, don't waste your money on this narrow-minded view of adoption. Bartholet has little to say about birthmothers! When she does mention birthmothers, she seems to view them as inconsequential baby machines. No empathy in this book!
Average customer rating:
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Having and Raising Children: Unconventional Families, Hard Choices, and the Social Good
Manufacturer: Pennsylvania State University Press
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ASIN: 0271018879 |
Book Description
Despite the sizable community of lesbian families in America, lesbian mothers and their children continue to face hostility and discrimination. This book explores the role that rhetoric plays in the formation of those negative attitudes and practices. Julie M. Thompson traces thirty years of public debate to examine how and to what extent the phrase "lesbian mother" has been viewed as an oxymoron.
"Mommy Queerest" focuses on the historical and contemporary meanings of lesbian motherhood in three cultural domains: the mass media, the U.S. legal system, and recent scholarship in feminist psychology. Thompson argues that a rhetoric of ambivalence has pervaded the discourse on this subject. Looking closely at the period from 1970 to 2000, she examines articles published in mainstream newspapers such as the "New York Times," the "Washington Post," the "Chicago Tribune," and the "Los Angeles Times" and in periodicals such as "Time," "Newsweek," and "Parents." She also scrutinizes such alternate publications as "Gay Community News," "Lesbian Connection," and "Lavender Woman." Whereas the mainstream press has tended to characterize lesbian mothers either as "unreal" or as an imminent threat to the family, the lesbian press has portrayed them alternately as the vanguard of radical feminism or as the ultimate betrayal of the lesbian nation.
Turning to the legal system, Thompson draws on more than seventy cases (mostly adjudications of child custody disputes between heterosexual fathers and lesbian mothers) to analyze how the courts have interpreted the "best interest of the child" standard and, by extension, the legitimacy of lesbian motherhood. Once again, a rhetoric of ambivalence is plainly evident in the courts' decisions.
To explore the academic response to lesbian motherhood, Thompson looks at different theoretical models of motherhood and at psychological studies of lesbian-headed families. While she applauds the desire of some researchers to help lesbian mothers retain custodial and visitation rights, she points out that such intentions are often undermined by a reliance on anti-lesbian understandings of gender.
Thompson concludes by reviewing the major findings of her research and their implications for rhetorical and critical legal theory. She also offers concrete suggestions for social change aimed at achieving a new legitimacy for lesbian motherhood.
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