Turning Stones

Just finished Turning Stones - My Days and Nights with Children at Risk by Marc Parent. Like Parent, my first job after earning my undergraduate degree in sociology was a social work position with a nonprofit serving homeless families. There was a lot I could relate with in this book. As I said at the time, there's nothing like an entry level social work position to inspire one to go on to graduate school.

Here's my favorite passage from the afterword:

The agency is transforming its mission from family preservation at all costs to child protection at all costs. Imagine requiring a badly abused woman to return to her batterer, just hoping it doesn't happen again. And it does happen again, but still, she's required to return to their home. And again. And again. It's exactly what we've been doing to abused children.

While Parent's habit of describing his female coworkers in terms of their physical attractiveness was annoying, it was probably honest at least. He was in his early twenties after all and seemingly full of cool guy bravado. Aside from this, the book is definitely worth reading if you are considering working in the field of child protection or domestic violence. It's a good read too, if you were once on the front lines turning stones.