Mary MacCracken - A Safe Place for Joey

Contents Cover Title Page Endorsements Copyright Dedication Acknowledgments Meeting Myself Joey Eric Changes Ben Alice Charlie A Safe Place Appendix Exclusive sample chapter Also by Mary MacCracken About the Author Moving Memoirs eNewsletter Write for Us About the Publisher

“MARY MACCRACKEN IS AS GIFTED A WRITER AS A THERAPIST. THIS IS HER BEST BOOK YET!”

– Josh Greenfield, author of A Child Called Noah

“EACH CHILD PRESENTS A UNIQUE CHALLENGE AND EACH CHAPTER A MOVING EXPERIENCE.”

– Jean Vitalis, Educational Therapist, Board of Trustees, Churchill School

This book recounts the essence of my experience and in that sense is a true story. However, it is not intended as a literal account, and it is not to be taken as a portrayal of any living person. All names (except for my family’s and mine) of individuals, places, and institutions are fictitious.

HarperElement

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in the United States as Turnabout Children by Signet, 1987

This updated edition published by HarperElement 2015

© Mary MacCracken 1986, 2015

Cover layout design © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2015

Cover photograph © Vanessa Munoz/Trevillion Images (posed by model)

Mary MacCracken asserts the moral right to

be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record of this book is

available from the British Library

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

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Source ISBN: 9780007555185

Ebook Edition © FEBRUARY 2015 ISBN: 9780007555192

Version: 2015-01-12

This book is dedicated to my own three children – Susan, Nan, and Steve – and their families, in small return for the joy they’ve given me.

And also to my four stepchildren – Michael, Joan, Karen, and Mark –and their families, who have enriched my life.

Cover

Title Page Contents Cover Title Page Endorsements Copyright Dedication Acknowledgments Meeting Myself Joey Eric Changes Ben Alice Charlie A Safe Place Appendix Exclusive sample chapter Also by Mary MacCracken About the Author Moving Memoirs eNewsletter Write for Us About the Publisher

Endorsements Endorsements Contents Cover Title Page Endorsements Copyright Dedication Acknowledgments Meeting Myself Joey Eric Changes Ben Alice Charlie A Safe Place Appendix Exclusive sample chapter Also by Mary MacCracken About the Author Moving Memoirs eNewsletter Write for Us About the Publisher “MARY MACCRACKEN IS AS GIFTED A WRITER AS A THERAPIST. THIS IS HER BEST BOOK YET!” – Josh Greenfield, author of A Child Called Noah “EACH CHILD PRESENTS A UNIQUE CHALLENGE AND EACH CHAPTER A MOVING EXPERIENCE.” – Jean Vitalis, Educational Therapist, Board of Trustees, Churchill School

Copyright

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Meeting Myself

Joey

Eric

Changes

Ben

Alice

Charlie

A Safe Place

Appendix

Exclusive sample chapter

Also by Mary MacCracken

About the Author

Moving Memoirs eNewsletter

Write for Us

About the Publisher

I particularly want to thank:

All the children I’ve worked with and their parents. This book might well have been titled “Lessons from Children.”

My husband, Cal, for standing by, putting up with, and continuing to encourage me.

My daughter Susan, for reading every word of every draft and for offering insights, comments, and unfaltering faith.

My daughter Nan, for joining me in private practice, and sharing her talent for growing children.

Gene Young, my friend and first editor, for buying my first book, The Lost Children , and for thoughtfully editing both Lovey and City Kid and much of A Safe Place for Joey .

Fredrica S. Friedman, my current editor, for her hard work, enthusiasm, and careful guidance of this book in its final stages.

Carl Brandt, my agent, for watching over my books, both here and in other countries.

Ruth Watson, for reading, typing, and uncomplainingly retyping the many drafts of this book.

Maggie. Ten-year-old, bespectacled, beloved Maggie. She still couldn’t tell time or remember her multiplication facts. She passed a spelling test if she studied the words long and hard, but a week later she was unable to spell most of the words on the test. But Maggie was desperately eager to learn and I was desperately lonely for children, which was why I was tutoring Maggie and a few others until I could get my “working papers” and return to teaching.

I was back in college now, not by choice, but by necessity. The private school where I had taught seriously emotionally disturbed children full time for over six years had become state approved, which meant that by law its teachers must be certified. I had left college 25 years before to be married at the end of my sophomore year, and, although I had been taking courses at night, these credits accumulate slowly and the school had its state approval before I did. I could not teach again until I had a bachelor’s degree in education and teacher certification.

I decided to do it the quickest way I knew – by enrolling full time at the state college. Cal, my husband, supported and encouraged me. Our children were all grown, and some were in college themselves, the same age as my fellow students.

Continuing education for women was not yet popular, and I moved through my days in a sea of twenty-year-olds and dull undergraduate courses. That was okay. But as an education major I had expected to be surrounded by children. Not so. There were plenty of lectures, textbooks, quizzes, term papers, and tests – but no children. In the spring of our senior year, we would be sent into schools for six weeks as student teachers, but that was almost two years away and I knew that I couldn’t wait that long to work with children again.