Street Child, A Memoir

by Justin Reed Early

"The books the world calls immoral, are the books that show the world its own shame." - Oscar Wilde

"Street Child is not for the faint of heart" - THE SEATTLE TIMES

Street Child is the shock-inspiring story of a young boy who escapes his increasingly dysfunctional and violent middle class home. Remanded into state custody at ten years old, he embarks on a journey through the foster care system only finding safety from unlikely skid-row heroes on downtown streets of Seattle and San Francisco - where children are victims and victims are considered criminals.

While dodging serial killers and predators, including a juvenile court judge who oversees his custody, these children develop familial bonds while protecting each other in an increasingly dangerous - yet invisible world. By telling these authentic stories with often times devastating outcomes, he articulates the stark reality of life on the streets for countless young people.

Many of the children in Street Child were featured in the movie STREETWISE which was nominated for an Academy Award.

Street Child is a powerful and intimate depiction into these homeless children’s actual lives during their most desperate times of survival. Their sweet camaraderie, funny antics, and intimate relationships will move your heart and soul into a new understanding and personalization of their noble plight.

Author Justin Reed Early cultivates hope while bringing new life to his childhood friends. The children portrayed are real and these stories are authentic.

Street Child is a journey no child should ever have to endure.

Genres: Biography, Memoir, Nonfiction, Autobiography, Amazon, Self Help, Fostering

237 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 18, 2012

About the author

Justin Reed Early spent much of his childhood in Group Homes, Foster Care and on the streets as a 'Homeless Youth'.

Born in Bellingham, WA and ‘raised’ in Seattle, Justin was a young adult when he was presented an opportunity to change – and was given some tools required to succeed. He continues to advocate solutions for homeless and disadvantaged youth (and adults) and donates his book to various disadvantaged youth and the Programs that serve them.

Justin currently resides in New York City and Los Angeles.

Reviews

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was living in Seattle during the time that Justin was on the streets there. As I went to work each day in a downtown highrise, I never was aware of what was happening blocks away. I'd get in my car each day and return home to security, warmth, and my family in the suburbs. What different worlds we lived in although so close in proximity. My heart goes out to the children that are still out there. Thank you for giving them a voice, Justin.

[Brook · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mr. Early has a very compelling story, but could have used an editor, or second set of eyes. Many readers will not be bothered by this, and will read the story as a story, and will learn something. Mr. Early, like others before him, has laid bare his experiences as a child on the streets, both the sex and drugs as well as the "unexpected" kindness of those truly decent human beings who just happen to live dysfunctional lives. That last part hit me hardest: people who were raised poorly, were and are treated poorly or ignored, who have little to no possessions themselves, but feel compelled to look after others, to provide family, receiving nothing but love in return...while continuing to live their horrible, possibly short lives.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave it 3 stars cause the content was good and it flowed. Which in this situation where the writer is only going by memory and not written documentation such as journals can be very hard. There really wasn't jumping around in the story adding to the consistent flow of the book. He also presented even the worst of the people, in the best possible ways. His story is good. His outreach is excellent. His struggle was real. His survival is amazing.
The reason I had to take 2 stars away was the lack of a good Editor. A lot was written like a quick text, or review, and didn't appear to ever be reread before sent to print. For me, that takes away from a good book.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was awesome! A roller coaster ride of every possible human emotion. Justin Early is an amazing man who has overcome more than any person should have to in four lifetimes. His story is an inspiration to be of service to others and to put faith into that which cannot be seen.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, I was really impressed with Justin's writing and thought he did a great job telling his story in a readable way. In fact, I couldn't put the book down and read it in 2 days. It was so heart-breaking. Justin's honesty was absolutely amazing and I applaud him. However, I do believe there was a bit of an agenda to this book and that is the homosexual agenda to make people believe that having homosexual tendencies are in-born and okay with God. It was so understandable that Justin did become a homosexual and my heart really breaks for him but what he says is not truth. His parents were horribly prejudiced against all kinds of people groups and apparently brought no spirituality into his life. As a child Justin was effeminate, which is not a sin. Then when he went to live on the streets at 10 years old, he eventually began prostituting his body to horrible, evil pedophiles. No wonder he is sexually confused with an evil dad and mom who won't protect him. God would not have made it so clear in the bible, that homosexuality is abnormal and abhorrent to Him, if it was not. It is so sad that in the past, Christians gave themselves a bad name by hating the sin AND the sinner. That is not God's heart. His heart is for all people to have peace and joy. True peace and true joy only comes by living the way He told us to in the bible and He gave His commandments, not to punish us or to limit our joy but to bring us full joy. I wish I could tell Justin that. I wish a Christian foster home would have taken him in and loved him. Yet, for all my sympathies and heart-felt pain for him, I stand on the truth of God's word and declare that homosexuality is a sin.

[Videoclimber(AKA)MTsLilSis · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW! Mr. Early is an inspiration. His life has been filled with terrible trauma, and that he is willing to lay himself bare for all to see is amazing. I am very sure that it was hard for him to relive the many parts of his growing up. I appreciate that he shared with us. Reading his story will let you come away with a new vision of homeless teens. It is mind blowing that he managed to live through all this. His many losses were devastating. His story will inspire you, that anything can be overcome. I am awed by his honesty in telling his story. This one is not for the faint of heart. By the end you will be wanting to find Mr. Early so that you can give him a hug! His whole life is here, the good, the bad, the miserable, the hard to believe, the illness, the doubt, the love, the sadness. The flesh, bones, and soul of a child who grew up on the streets.

[Becki Basley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very frank and honest account of what happens when a family fails to care for their child. What happens when society fails a child and the street is left to raise them. There are several remarkable characters who help the child along the way as best as they in their own circumstances. This child grew up and beat his circumstances. A phenomenal survivor But still there are kids out there every day like he was and all of us must figure out what part of the cycle we can come in and help out to get these children out of these situations and into a life they should be having instead of the hell that is their existence.

[Peggy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the true story of a child from an abusive home who takes to the streets of Seattle at the age of 10 in the 1980's. Justin Early tells his story well. It's incredible that he survived the drugs, prostitution and dangerous predators. The tale of so many kids who come from abusive, non-caring, or addictive families is heart-breaking. There were caring people on the street who protected the young Justin and social workers, judges and police officers who also tried to help him. It is an inspiring story of survival and forgiveness. Well worth the read not only for the story but to bring awareness of the dangers our homeless kids face on the streets.

[Patsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank You Justin for writing this book and sharing your story. I am a grandmother and never knew some of the things that goes on in this world right next door to us. This is a book every parent should read and learn from it.

You Justin are a remarkable person and an excellent author. Just always hold on to Jesus Our Lord, He is always there for us. For you to share your life with so many people which you are still doing through your book is awesome. When I started reading the first page I could not put it down until the end, it touched every emotion in me. I have never read a story that touched me as much as this one did. May God bless you always.

[Tom Elder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Justice Reed Early. True story
Street Child.
This story will open your eyes to life on the streets mainly set in Seattle . The author whom the book is about leaves nothing out and covers his life from a 10year old to present day.
He covers everything from stealing, sex, drugs, and homosexuality. You will enjoy this book and I am sure you will feel for Justin and any others like him. To Justin I say thanks for writing this very emotional book, it can't have been easy for you.
5 stars. 01 February 2014.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn't put it down

As I read this, I felt that I walked the journey with you. I found myself cheering each time you were given a chance and heart broken each time you fell "from grace." Your story is a testimony to the broken system that only keeps children on the street. You are the voice for many that have none.

[Rochelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

an awsome book

[Kerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gem! I loved this book from start to finish. 5 stars.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wished it would have focused more on the life and trials of being on the street.

[Robby Charters · Rating 5 out of 5]

I said it before in my review of Jo Napoli's The King of Mulberry Street: there should be a new genre added to the list, called "street kids" or "homeless children". They'd cover the whole range from fiction to non-fiction. Included would be Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, Fr. Joe Maier's Welcome to the Bangkok Slaughterhouse: The Battle for Human Dignity in Bangkok's Bleakest Slums (whom I had the privilege of working with in Bangkok), Robin Lloyd-Jones' Fallen Angels: Stories of Los Gamines, as well as my own Pepe: homeless slum kid versus evil wired up president. Certainly not least in this line-up is the one I just finished reading: Justin Reed Early's STREET CHILD, A Memoir.

As the title suggests, it's Justin's own story . The first two chapters cover his own life as the third son in a middle class family in Washington State, his tumultuous relationship with his father (it's hard to imagine a worse father than Justin's, a very unhappy man indeed!) which led to his leaving home at the age of ten, his entry into the world of foster car and youth homes, and finally his escape to street life.

Street life seems glamorous, perhaps for the first few years. He meets the right people, street kids like himself, but mostly older. Roberta and Frankie become his closest friends. Because he's so young, everyone takes care of him. He quickly finds that the most lucrative means of support is the sex trade. At his first pick-up – “trick” is the local slang word for it – Roberta warns the customer that her friends are watching, and “no penetration”. He gets picked up by the police a few times, and even sent to a youth facility far off on the other side of the state. He escapes, and as a “cute little boy”, he has no trouble getting back to the streets of Seattle. Someone even buys him a plane ticket.

One only remains a “cute little boy” for so long, and after that, life isn't as easy. While life as a street kid may have its romantic side, Justin Early holds nothing back in showing the consequences such a life can lead to. The chances of surviving into adulthood are much less for a child of the streets, especially when there's a serial killer on the loose – and the AIDS epidemic – and the suicide rate...

One of the events that Justin describes is the filming of Streetwise. When I got to that part, I did a Google search and watched the whole feature-length film on YouTube. I understand it was a popular film in its time – it was nominated for an Academy Award – but I had missed it. In one of the opening scenes, I recognised Justin standing next to a phone box with Roberta, from one of the photographs in the book. Other than that, Justin doesn't show up much in the film, because Frankie had warned him to stay away from people with cameras. However, many of the characters from the book are remembered in the film. Lou Lou is the one you see loudly threatening anyone who would abuse her fellow street kids. In the book, she chases away a would-be pimp, and in the film, forces an older tramp to apologise to one of her young friends. She's Frankie's sister and Roberta's lover. Then, there's the tragic story of Dewayne. It would be a spoiler if I said more...

If you do read the book, you'd be missing out if you didn't at least look up Streetwise on YouTube, and watch it through.

As I said, this would fit into my proposed “Homeless Children” genre. However, all Homeless Children books would necessarily be a sub-genre to others, like Science Fiction as in the case of my Pepe, or Classical Fiction in the case of Oliver Twist. This one, of course, is a Memoir, but it could also be classed in yet another genre, GTLB, due to the permanent effect Justin's street life had on him. It wasn't the sexual orientation of his choice, but too much had happened, and the last part of the book describes how he came to terms with it.

It's also not how I would have hoped it would turn out. To be up front, I'm a Christian who believes that being Gay isn't God's plan for human relationship (but please keep that in perspective: nor do I believe that a heterosexual relationship outside of wedlock or with multiple partners is God's plan. Nor, do I believe, is gluttony or alcoholism. But I have friends who are all of those, whom I respect and enjoy being around – when they're not doing those things. We've all been broken in some way or another). It doesn't keep me from enjoying a book like this, and highly recommending it as an eye-opener to what really happens on the street.

It happens in America, even in pristine cities like Seattle Washington. Granted, a slightly larger percent of the street children there are from dysfunctional middle class families. Fewer – though still some – are abandoned. Dewayne had run away from a foster home and was waiting for his dad to be released from prison. Also, apart from the occasional serial killer, the streets of Seattle are probably a bit safer than places like Brazil, where the police have been known to round up street children and shoot them. But the streets are still the streets, kids are still kids, and life can still get ugly.

For Justin, it was ugly, but with a happy ending. There's a lot about forgiveness, and his last moments with his dad are happy ones. Justin now has a career in helping to improve the lives of other kids like himself.

That's not a spoiler – he did, after all, write this book himself....

[Paisley Princess · Rating 4 out of 5]

A couple years ago I watched Streetwise, so I knew about Justin Early and the other unfortunate runaways. I LOVED this book, and it was hard to put down. Unfortunately, I had to give it four stars as the book had serious editing flaws. A book's editing makes or breaks it, and the numorous grammar errors, misspellings, and other typos definitely hindered the flow. If you're going to publish a book, you better make damn sure you have a decent editor. Nonetheless, it was a great read.

Mr. Early' sad story is a account of a child who was victimized, exploited, left to fend for himself, and had to survive as a runaway at ten years old. How he was able to face his traumas, addictions, an AIDS diagnosis, and come to grips with his sexuality is a testament of his strength through extreme adversity. Mr. Early encountered others who were hanging by a thread but helped him survive on the streets, with many succumbing to them. The saddest part of Early's story wasn't part of his narrative but of his friend Roberta's, was murdered by the Green River Killer. It's amazing he isn't dead himself.

I grew up with a mother who was on the streets at 14, and Early's story is pretty similar to hers. Even with that upbringing it was extremely hard to read, as no child at ten should have to turn tricks to survive or have to run away.

[Paisley Princess · Rating 4 out of 5]

A couple years ago I watched Streetwise, so I knew about Justin Early and the other unfortunate runaways. I LOVED this book, and it was hard to put down. Unfortunately, I had to give it four stars as the book had serious editing flaws. A book's editing makes or breaks it, and the numorous grammar errors, misspellings, and other typos definitely hindered the flow. If you're going to publish a book, you better make damn sure you have a decent editor. Nonetheless, it was a great read.

Mr. Early' sad story is a account of a child who was victimized, exploited, left to fend for himself, and had to survive as a runaway at ten years old. How he was able to face his traumas, addictions, an AIDS diagnosis, and come to grips with his sexuality is a testament of his strength through extreme adversity. Mr. Early encountered others who were hanging by a thread but helped him survive on the streets, with many succumbing to them. The saddest part of Early's story wasn't part of his narrative but of his friend Roberta's, was murdered by the Green River Killer. It's amazing he isn't dead himself.

I grew up with a mother who was on the streets at 14, and Early's story is pretty similar to hers. Even with that upbringing it was extremely hard to read, as no child at ten should have to turn tricks to survive or have to run away.

[Tania · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heartbreaking but Hopeful

The author captures his awful early years as a homeless, drug addicted child, and his efforts to break free from that life in this self-published memoir. He sheds a light on how it all works, living on the street and surviving the physical discomfort, hunger, and loneliness that comes with it. He doesn't hold back but shares his experiences in the raw, honestly detailing how down and out he truly got. His efforts to rise above his troubles took time and he doesn't sugarcoat that either. It's nice that he could end on a good note, but as an addict in recovery I don't take it lightly that he's willingly taken on a lifelong struggle to stay clean and sober.

It's a tough story to read, though tougher to tell I'm sure, just to have to picture children suffering this way. I admire the author for pushing forward with telling the story. That being said I believe the story does suffer from lack of editing, and could have been even more powerful if someone had encouraged the author to write more like the child he was portraying. I won't dwell on the details here, the story is too important, but it's the downside to self-publishing.

[Kirby Wilcox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hmmmm?

Stories like this, although all are unique, are almost unbelievable. Justin tells an incredible story of survival, love, loss and redemption but yet he leaves out a few very important things that I can't help but wonder about. This story is what can happen when adults are not supportive and loving to their children...it is also a story about how a person's inner strength and personal character can will its way to overcome the unthinkable challenges we face. For anyone having a bad day...you may want to reconsider your priorities. Thanks Justin.

[Craig Rife · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read!

Justin, thank you for sharing your story. The trials and tribulations you made it through despite the rejection you were subjected to makes for a good eye opener! This memoir is so heartbreaking to read at times but does show we can overcome our adversities if we work hard at it! We all need to do so much more for the street children instead of turning a blind eye to save the life of a child!

[Lisa T · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant

Heartbreaking. I would like to thank Justin for sharing his story and in turn the stories of the street kids. It's disturbing and eye opening but also an up lifting feeling of knowing that there is hope and kindness even in the most dire circumstances, that there are people out there that care enough to do something about the tragic situations that can overcome people especially children. I just wish everyone thought this way.

[SHARI M PENNINGTON · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lonely child

I had to give this book 5 stars because tides true story of what many children must endure to survive their childhood, even with families and homes that they are not welcome to go back to.

It's a story of survival. Of drug abuse. Of sexual abuse. Of every abuse you could think of, but also a story of success!!!

Justin Early, I applaud you. God bless you!!!

[Jordana Carroll · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a Parent- Human Service Practitioner - A Conscious adult. Read this book

Been teaching for over 50 years in many diverse arenas. This book spells it out for the reader to understand as to WHY the youth of today want to run and go numb. Parents and school counsellors , judges, etc, read ABSORB this book ! Keep our kids off the streets and educated with Self Esteem

[james peters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story of redemption and the human spirit!

Great book and defintely worth reading as so many young kids are being abused and neglected. I hope it inspires everyone of us even if only a little bit to share more of ourselves to each other helping the human race become better to each other and our future generations.

[Cindy Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Too late

This was a hard to read book for me. I lost a son (step) recently who lived this lifestyle. I never could understand his choices with life’s trials and tribulations. But after reading this book, I believe I could have, no should have, been more compassionate and caring about his demons, whatever they might have been….

[Monica Paolucci · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing read

I loved this book, it has great insight to what happens to kids in the streets. It breaks my heart to read this, I wanted to go find these kids and take them in. So glad Justin's future is much brighter!

[Sharron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

This is a story of a young man who didn't have the best childhood, he may of failed a few times , but in the end his perseverance and strength won out . May God watch over this wonderful man.

[Ramona drake · Rating 5 out of 5]

B

Gripping...can't out if down. Thank you Justin for bravely speaking the unspoken. Thank you for reminding me of Gunther and the Donut Shop where I spent countless days & nights just before you hit the scene. Bless you brother. Life got better!! Love Mona

[christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read!

This is a must read book. It keeps you reading where you don't want to stop. It really shows the reader the effects the drugs take on a person and there family and how awful it is for anyone living in the streets etc

[Kristy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe it could have used some editing but I'm not picky. I loved it!