All God's Children: Inside the Dark and Violent World of Street Families

Portland, Oregon and street kids.....gone wrong. The sadness of what can occur when parents do not accept the reasonability of parenthood and think more of themselves..... and our youth end up under the bridge,gone astray. Following the "parents" of the street, all the while longing for a home life. Reality at its best. A great in site to today's street kids.

As a Portland native, I highly recommend this book. It is written from an investigative reporter view with info from all sides involved: homeless youth in Portland, the kids and adults inside the street family that the book deals with, the historical and present day violence within street families, the loving family of Jessica the murder victim as well as Jessica herself, the police officers and detectives involved in the grisly investigation and how some of the social service agencies in downtown Portland turned a blind eye to some serious issues. It also provides a great overview and history of street youth and street family culture and how wide spread and connected it really is. This book challenges us to really look at what is going with some of the young teens and adults that live on the streets in violent street families and why we as a society have chosen to ignore the violence and murder. It is grim and disturbing but honest and thought provoking, something many journalists and authors have forgotten how to do, but Denfeld has not.

This is an excellent book. The author shows us the horrifying underbelly in today's society of the young & homeless. There aren't rose-colored glasses here; it's the factual, brutal truth of what's going on with a new generation of homeless. The book is truly troubling, especially the detailed beatings & murders. The sense of detachment these "kids" (16-27) seem to have is unnerving. A must read. Ms. Denfeld has undergone harsh criticism from homeless advocates & those who work in shelters, as have the parents of Jessica Williams, 1 of the murder victims. Both have done a great deed by putting this in writing & letting the truth be heard, by those who will listen.

This is a disturbing and challenging look at the growing culture of street kids and the street families evolving in cities around us. As a teacher I watched bright students, with great home lives, grow up and be drawn into dangerous groups. Some ended up on the streets. Danielle, one of the youths responsible for the murder in Portland, could have been one of my students. As someone who works in an urban area and comes in daily contact with the growing number of kids who are living on the street, the book rang true to my experience. As a parent and educator it is information that is timely and important. Why are so many young people choosing danger and violence? Why is the life on the street drawing bright kids who have other options? What is the street culture offering them and how do we respond? This will be a hard read for those in social service agencies who find themselves working so hard to earn the trust of street kids. If what Denfeld writes is true, then they will need to modify the way they provide services to keep from enabling kids to stay out on the street. This may well be a new paradigm, one where some kids on the street are victims but just as many are volunteers. I hope this book helps to begin a dialogue about what is happening to the teens in our families and in our communities.