Dandelion on My Pillow, Butcher Knife Beneath by Nancy Thomas

Nancy Turner is a therapeutic foster mother who works with the most damaged children in the system: the ones who kill.  It is a fascinating story of how she deals with and works with these hurting children and heals many of them to go on and live normal lives.

The book begins with a fire - one that is set by one of her foster children, and burns down the family's guest house and storage shed and damages their cars.  Nancy Turner then goes on to tell her story.  She was in a horribly abusive marriage.  The abuse of her and her two children by her husband is hard to read about.  Finally finding the courage to leave her husband after he threw their new baby against a wall, she works two jobs to support her family, which means she rarely sees her two sons.
She marries again, a good man this time and they have a daughter.  But her youngest son has problems and working with him lead Nancy Turner to becoming a therapeutic foster mother.

The rest of the book details her work with a few of the children, including Beth, who was the subject of an HBO documentary entitled "Child of Rage."  The Turners eventually adopted Beth, who is now studying to become a pediatric nurse.

The methods Nancy learns to help the children are outlined here, and examples are given over and over.  Reactive Attachment Disorder is explained and thoroughly explored.

This book has some violent, terrible situations in it, and has some bad language as Nancy shows us poems written by some of the children.  It will break your heart to read what some of the children have been through, the things they have done because they are so damaged, and the heartbreak they go through as they are told their parents have given up on them and relinquished them. 

This book is not for the fainthearted, but it is a true story of a very brave family who work with the most hurting of our society, and try to turn them around into productive people.

1 comment:

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