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Another Place at the Table: A Story of Shattered Childhoods Redeemed by Love

Another Place at the Table: A Story of Shattered Childhoods Redeemed by Love

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Good News on a usually Bad News topic
Review: Another Place at the Table is the story of a family who progress from adopting two children in need to becoming full time/overtime/all the time foster parents of handfuls of children with major 'issues.' But more than that, it's a story of the social services quagmire, the birth mothers of these kids, and the kids themselves.
Of interest to all who like the truth in human interest stories.
And besides that, it's well written. Read it, and pass it on to a friend. Or better yet, buy two copies and GIVE one to a friend.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Interesting but too general
Review: Another reviewer said this was "fast-paced." I found it too much so. I never felt I got to know the children Ms. Harrison writes about, although the book does give a good overview of the foster care system. If shorter, it would have made a good essay on the system; if longer, it could have focused on the children and their stories. Without more detail, the book is rather flat and the children remain mere examples of the results of abusive and neglectful parents -- instead of the multi-dimensional people that the Harrisons obviously know and love.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Interesting but too general
Review: Another reviewer said this was "fast-paced." I found it too much so. I never felt I got to know the children Ms. Harrison writes about, although the book does give a good overview of the foster care system. If shorter, it would have made a good essay on the system; if longer, it could have focused on the children and their stories. Without more detail, the book is rather flat and the children remain mere examples of the results of abusive and neglectful parents -- instead of the multi-dimensional people that the Harrisons obviously know and love.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Good - and Tough
Review: As an adoption worker/counselor, I work hard at learning studying about foster care and the issues that face "my" kids and parents. I'd heard good things about this book, and thought I'd give it a try. I had to stop halfway through. I spend all day dealing with the horrible things of foster care - the terrible abuse, the ridiculous beauracracy, the burnt-out workers, and Kathy did a fantastic job of capturing this world. So realistic a job I could hardly call it after-hours reading.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn and know more about foster care.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Good - and Tough
Review: As an adoption worker/counselor, I work hard at learning studying about foster care and the issues that face "my" kids and parents. I'd heard good things about this book, and thought I'd give it a try. I had to stop halfway through. I spend all day dealing with the horrible things of foster care - the terrible abuse, the ridiculous beauracracy, the burnt-out workers, and Kathy did a fantastic job of capturing this world. So realistic a job I could hardly call it after-hours reading.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn and know more about foster care.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Another Place at the Table
Review: Being a foster parent myself for almost four years, I know how difficult it can sometimes be to explain to others what my world is like. Kathy Harrison was right on the mark with this book. It was consistent, educational and emotional. It brought so many of the "zany" parts of foster parenting together and made it real for others. Kudos Kathy, I hope this book encourages many others to join us on the zany ride!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Dedicated family
Review: If we didn't have the foster care system, where would all these children be? Would all these children be institutionalized? Thank god for people like the Harrisons. Not alot of families could do what they do.
Kathy's story can make you cry one minute and smile the next. It is like you are right there with her. It was hard to put the book down.
She has a very busy life, and still found the time to write
ANOTHER PLACE AT THE TABLE.
The Massachusetts foster care program is very lucky to have someone like Kathy and her husband.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Emotionally Draining and Fulfilling at the Same Time
Review: Kathy Harrison is not the kind of person who can just sit back and watch others suffer. She isn't the kind of person who feels like making a charitable contribution is doing her part to make the world a better place. Kathy Harrison is one of a special breed of people: someone who is willing to make sacrifices in order to make others happy. For Kathy, those sacrifices mean opening up her home --- and her heart --- to the neediest children in the world. Kathy Harrison is a foster parent but, more importantly, she is a hero to over one hundred children that she has helped through their toughest times.

In ANOTHER PLACE AT THE TABLE, Harrison makes no attempts to glamorize her role as a foster parent. She doesn't make herself out to be a saint. She simply tells it like it is, complete with the disheartening stories of children who have been neglected, abused and abandoned. But throughout the struggles she recounts in her book, there is always a glimmer of light: the children she has helped rehabilitate, the foster children who have found wonderful permanent homes, and the children who Harrison and her husband have adopted themselves. Despite her battles with the social services system, Kathy Harrison has made a difference.

ANOTHER PLACE AT THE TABLE is emotionally draining and fulfilling at the same time. While the subject matter is not lighthearted, the writing is excellent and the reading is fast-paced. Harrison has presented an open, honest view of her life --- faults included. Perhaps that is what makes the book exceptional.

Reflecting on the stories in this book, the phrase "Truth is stranger than fiction" comes to mind. In a world where so many of us live such comfortable lives with caring families, it is hard to believe that the events in this book really happened. And no invented character could rival the personalities of those living in the Harrison household. ANOTHER PLACE AT THE TABLE tells not only the story of Kathy Harrison and her foster children but also the story of foster families across the nation. It will bring you to tears and will make you angry. It won't make you laugh and it doesn't have a happy ending. But it will make you think about the foster care system, and maybe it will encourage you to make a difference.

--- Reviewed by Melissa Brown

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A wonderfully honest look at the life of a foster family
Review: Kathy's Harrison's memoir of her life as a foster parent to over one hundred children is at times funny, sad, and heart-wrenching, but always completely honest. She is honest about her own failures and weaknesses, about the difficulty in fostering troubled children, about the many shortcomings of the foster care system, and about the tremendous need each child in that system has for a loving, attentive family. She sugarcoats nothing, yet manages to show the reader each sweet, loving, unique child she took in under the labels of "abused," "troubled" and "mentally ill."

I began this book as someone who never imagined that I would want to be a foster parent, and finished it with the inspiration to pursue it as soon as possible. Harrison is not a superhero, as I previously imagined foster parents to be; she is an ordinary person who has given an extrodinary piece of herself to those members of our society who need it most. Her story, and that of the children she loves, deserves to be read.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent Book!
Review: One of the best books I've read in a long time. Kathy Harrison details her life as a foster parent including her shortcomings and mistakes. Strongly recommend this book for any one curious about the foster care system or intersted in becoming a foster parent.


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