Somebody Hear Me Crying: Youth in Protective Services: Youth with Special Needs

By Joyce Libal

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1590847393
• ISBN13: 9781590847398
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: Mason Crest Publishers
• Length: 127 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.3" x 9.5"
• Age Range: 12 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 7 to 12

Customer Reviews

easy to read look at Child Protective Services

This is a thorough but easy-to-understand look at Child Protective Services in the US and in Canada and some of the social services that are available to families needing them. It appears to be aimed at adults, but is written in especially simple language and could also be understood by young teens. There is a glossary for all the technical terms used, for example, "battered women's shelter", and these terms are boldfaced wherever they occur in the text. The frame story follows a thirteen-year-old boy whose mother is an alcoholic and whose father manhandles and neglects him. In addition the family has little money, their home is filthy, and the boy has to forage for dropped change to get any pocket money. Things get worse and worse until one day the mother falls into a drunken stupor and the father storms out. The boy calls 911 and things get better: all the social agencies swing into action, the boy and the mother are temporarily put in shelters, everybody gets counseling, and things are looking up for the family by the end of the book. The narrative is broken into short chapters, interspersed with descriptions of the types of problems that can face families and how they can get help. The book has two strong messages for children: it's not your fault, and help is available.