February 2020 Book of the Month
“Who Can Catch the Moon”
By Lisa A. Mazzei, LCSW, BCD
Reviewed by Anita Finley
Heartfelt, Humorous and Compelling Stories of Resiliency in Society’s Most Vulnerable Children
After you read this small 134-page gem of a book, you will understand about fostering and adopting children and perhaps will even consider being one of the angels who help these vulnerable, unloved children. I was very affected by the stories that Lisa shared in her book, and my heart went out for these vulnerable and forgotten children. Lisa says, “The outcomes of youth that leave foster care without a family are abysmal—many end up homeless, in jail, unemployed, and suffering from mental illness.”
The book, Who can Catch the Moon? explains how we can change outcomes through curative power of love, kindness, and nurturing parenting and it is written with passion and experience. As I read through the pages, I was made aware of society’s failing and it is a book like this, that can shed light on the unfortunate system that is not meeting the needs of children. It shows how we can join together to bring about positive outcomes for these defenseless human beings.
The closest I have come to understand about fostering is when I have found dogs that needed love and a good life. Many dogs and cats have been neglected and wind up in centers waiting to be fostered or adopted.
A central theme throughout the book is understanding what causes a child to be difficult, uncooperative, angry, challenging and negative, although these traits are understandable, the foster parent needs to be trained to understand these situations.
For those of us who never had a similar disturbing lifestyle, it is very hard to understand but Lisa is basically a smart, educated, gentle soul who is capable of bringing a child and a foster parent together moving along on the right track.
I found all the stories fascinating, if not sad, but the twists and turns of these young lives are worth saving and understanding. Many of them are forceful and delinquent in their personality, but for good reason. It requires social workers like Lisa to make people believe that together will be a new beginning, both for the foster child and the fostering parent. Education is part of this process. If personalities mesh, adoption could be in the future, and then what a perfect outcome.
To give you an example of the contents of this book, here are some titles of her chapters: *I Like You and You Like Me. It’s ALL About the Relationship. *Foster Care: Are We Helping or Hindering? *What Defines Resiliency? *To Err is Human, Not Learning “the” Lesson is the True Mistake.
If I were a bit younger, I believe after reading this book, I would definitely consider fostering or adopting an innocent child.
About the author:
Lisa Mazzeo holds a bachelor and master’s degree in social work. She has worked in organizations that specialize in foster care and opened her private practice in 1980 here she specializes in working with adolescents and provides clinical supervision for social workers who are preparing for their licensing exam. She resides in East Haven, Connecticut.
To purchase a copy of Lisa’s book, please go to Amazon.com.
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