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A Place Called Home: A Memoir
PORCHLIGHT BESTSELLER
Zibby Owens 2022 Book of the Year
A galvanizing, stirring memoir about growing up homeless and in foster care and rising to become a leading advocate for child welfare, recognized by President Obama as an American Champion of Change. “You will fall in love with David Ambroz, his beautifully-told, gut-wrenching story, and his great big heart.” (Jeanette Walls, author of The Glass Castle)
“It's impossible to read A Place Called Home and not want to redouble your efforts to fight the systems of poverty that have plagued America for far too long. In this book, David shares his deeply personal story and issues a rousing call to make this a more humane and compassionate nation.”—HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
There are millions of homeless children in America today and in A Place Called Home, award-winning child welfare advocate David Ambroz writes about growing up homeless in New York for eleven years and his subsequent years in foster care, offering a window into what so many kids living in poverty experience every day.
When David and his siblings should be in elementary school, they are instead walking the streets seeking shelter while their mother is battling mental illness. They rest in train stations, 24-hour diners, anywhere that’s warm and dry; they bathe in public restrooms and steal food to quell their hunger. When David is placed in foster care, at first it feels like salvation but soon proves to be just as unsafe. He’s moved from home to home and, in all but one placement, he’s abused. His burgeoning homosexuality makes him an easy target for other’s cruelty.
David finds hope and opportunities in libraries, schools, and the occasional kind-hearted adult; he harnesses an inner grit to escape the all-too-familiar outcome for a kid like him. Through hard work and unwavering resolve, he is able to get a scholarship to Vassar College, his first significant step out of poverty. He later graduates from UCLA Law with a vision of using his degree to change the laws that affect children in poverty.
Told with lyricism and sparkling with warmth, A Place Called Home depicts childhood poverty and homelessness as it is experienced by so many young people who have been systematically overlooked and unprotected. It’s at once a gripping personal account of deprivation—how one boy survived it, and ultimately thrived—and a resounding call for readers to move from empathy to action.
Zibby Owens 2022 Book of the Year
A galvanizing, stirring memoir about growing up homeless and in foster care and rising to become a leading advocate for child welfare, recognized by President Obama as an American Champion of Change. “You will fall in love with David Ambroz, his beautifully-told, gut-wrenching story, and his great big heart.” (Jeanette Walls, author of The Glass Castle)
“It's impossible to read A Place Called Home and not want to redouble your efforts to fight the systems of poverty that have plagued America for far too long. In this book, David shares his deeply personal story and issues a rousing call to make this a more humane and compassionate nation.”—HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
There are millions of homeless children in America today and in A Place Called Home, award-winning child welfare advocate David Ambroz writes about growing up homeless in New York for eleven years and his subsequent years in foster care, offering a window into what so many kids living in poverty experience every day.
When David and his siblings should be in elementary school, they are instead walking the streets seeking shelter while their mother is battling mental illness. They rest in train stations, 24-hour diners, anywhere that’s warm and dry; they bathe in public restrooms and steal food to quell their hunger. When David is placed in foster care, at first it feels like salvation but soon proves to be just as unsafe. He’s moved from home to home and, in all but one placement, he’s abused. His burgeoning homosexuality makes him an easy target for other’s cruelty.
David finds hope and opportunities in libraries, schools, and the occasional kind-hearted adult; he harnesses an inner grit to escape the all-too-familiar outcome for a kid like him. Through hard work and unwavering resolve, he is able to get a scholarship to Vassar College, his first significant step out of poverty. He later graduates from UCLA Law with a vision of using his degree to change the laws that affect children in poverty.
Told with lyricism and sparkling with warmth, A Place Called Home depicts childhood poverty and homelessness as it is experienced by so many young people who have been systematically overlooked and unprotected. It’s at once a gripping personal account of deprivation—how one boy survived it, and ultimately thrived—and a resounding call for readers to move from empathy to action.
384 pages, Paperback
First published September 13, 2022
195 people are currently reading
14286 people want to read
About the author
David Ambroz
2 books176 followersDavid Ambroz is a national poverty and child welfare expert/advocate, Emmy nominated, Nautilus Book Award winner, and best-selling author. He was recognized by President Obama as an American Champion of Change. He currently serves as the Head of Community Engagement (West) for Amazon. Previously he led Corporate Social Responsibility for Walt Disney Television and served as the President of the Los Angeles City Planning Commission, where he has led the efforts to pass groundbreaking policy, including the Mobility 2035 Plan, Home Sharing Ordinance, Cannabis Regulation, Linkage Fee for affordable housing, Permanent Supportive Housing Ordinance, and the Hotel/Motel Conversion Ordnance for homeless housing. David also served as a California Child Welfare Councilmember and as a Commissioner with the ABA Commission on Youth at Risk, is formerly a contributing writer to Huffington Post, and helped author and advocate numerous laws and policies, including the extension of foster care to 21, Chafee Independence Act, efforts to protect LGBTQ foster youth, and policies to ensure access and success in higher education – including founding the Guardian Scholars in Los Angeles.
After growing up homeless and then in foster care, he graduated from Vassar College and later from UCLA School of Law. He is a foster dad, a member of the Television Academy, a Board Member of Equality California, and now lives in Los Angeles.
After growing up homeless and then in foster care, he graduated from Vassar College and later from UCLA School of Law. He is a foster dad, a member of the Television Academy, a Board Member of Equality California, and now lives in Los Angeles.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 627 reviews
September 15, 2023
10 stars. This book affected me on different levels, so I find it very hard to do a review. It is based on the author's childhood memories. On his family being on welfare and off welfare. Homeless. He is now an advocate for the homeless. He desires to make changes in the welfare system, but I often feel like it's hopeless. That people don't care. That people will always see it as being their fault and not societies.
He and his brother and sister lived with their mentally ill Mother. It might be noted that many people who are homeless are mentally ill. And who would Not be? His mother used to beat him, but it was more than just a beating, it almost killed him a few times. And then when it was learned that he was gay, he was mistreated not just by his mother, but by those in the school. In Every school he attended. He learned to not speak because when he talked it gave him away.
They saw that he was badly bruised and did nothing. Not even his hunger. But when they saw that he was Gay they took him to the depths of hell to Try to save him. What needs to change is the hearts of men.
He and his brother and sister lived with their mentally ill Mother. It might be noted that many people who are homeless are mentally ill. And who would Not be? His mother used to beat him, but it was more than just a beating, it almost killed him a few times. And then when it was learned that he was gay, he was mistreated not just by his mother, but by those in the school. In Every school he attended. He learned to not speak because when he talked it gave him away.
They saw that he was badly bruised and did nothing. Not even his hunger. But when they saw that he was Gay they took him to the depths of hell to Try to save him. What needs to change is the hearts of men.
August 12, 2022
Books like Ambroz’s A Place Called Home are so important but disappointingly lack the publicity they rightfully deserve. Memoirs, such as this, help raise awareness for major human rights issues. Ambroz’s account includes homelessness, poverty, the foster care system, mental health issues, LGTBQ+ rights, and much more. The author deftly discusses each of these issues and even promotes reform. I love that the author provides real solutions to the problems included in his book particularly in the Afterward.
I could tell that this memoir must have been incredibly difficult for the author to write. I felt a myriad of emotions with each chapter I read. Mainly, this book made me feel a great deal of sadness and heartbreak. However, Ambroz’s story caused me to feel a surge of hope as well. So many children in this country alone are facing one or more of the human rights issues brought up in this memoir. The author overcame that suffering and flourished in his adulthood. With a little bit of help, other children may be saved from this cruel suffering and grow up to become healthy, successful adults like Ambroz.
I urge everyone to go out and read this book especially policy makers and others who have the power to make the necessary changes.
I could tell that this memoir must have been incredibly difficult for the author to write. I felt a myriad of emotions with each chapter I read. Mainly, this book made me feel a great deal of sadness and heartbreak. However, Ambroz’s story caused me to feel a surge of hope as well. So many children in this country alone are facing one or more of the human rights issues brought up in this memoir. The author overcame that suffering and flourished in his adulthood. With a little bit of help, other children may be saved from this cruel suffering and grow up to become healthy, successful adults like Ambroz.
I urge everyone to go out and read this book especially policy makers and others who have the power to make the necessary changes.
December 23, 2022
David Ambroz is a great writer and storyteller, but he was also a child who grew up in poverty, experiencing the additional traumas of homelessness, abuse, and foster care. He tells his story from the lens of a child who felt the weight of trying to keep his depressed and delusional mom stable and his family safe, together, and fed. He was constantly in survival mode and experiencing things no child should. His story was heartbreaking, but also hopeful. I loved his courage, grit, and the grace he offered to others. I appreciated the insightful perspective and the expanded understanding I gained from hearing his story, and I hope many people read this book and feel inspired to act.
Some favorite quotes:
-“I want to be part of his life, to be his child, to be him, to be blissfully unaware of the luxury of a warm taxi.”
-“On the fringes of this shiny holiday wonderland, in the dark alcoves and corners of the night, are people like us, passing like ghosts around and through the bright clean tourists. We drift in circles making our home everywhere and nowhere. We hunker down in the colorless crevices of the city in the gray shadows of gray buildings where the gray snow is piled. We are gray people fading to nothing.”
-“There is something absent in mom’s love for us.”
-“This is the line my mother has always walked: she protects us and hurts us; she provides and deprives; we survive beside her, despite her, and because of her.”
-“In these moments I am proud of myself and my family in spite of our circumstances. I know we can survive anything and I see us as champions. When one trauma recedes, another rolls in, and often there is a relentless sea of adversity to overcome that leaves marks, both physical and psychological scars. But my anchors are Alex and Jessica. And mom’s love, though constant and unreliable, is real. I don’t know where we’ll end up next, but when the daily burdens bear down on me, these moments lift me back to the surface where I can breath enough to kick forward and push my way toward a distant shore, a better place than this.”
-“Woven into that effort was the conscious decision not to hold her accountable for her disease. It was hard to keep this conviction sometimes. When she put herself and others in danger, I had to remind myself that it wasn’t her fault. Knowing that allowed me to understand her, forgive her, love her, and accept the love that she was able to offer. If I blamed her for all of it I would have lost myself in that hatred. To this day I have to remind myself that she wronged me, but she’s not culpable. I wanted and still pray more than anything to be able to reach into her mind and quiet the voices, to meet and love the woman that they destroyed.”
-“Poverty is never about the future. The poor are consumed with the now, as they must be to survive.”
Some favorite quotes:
-“I want to be part of his life, to be his child, to be him, to be blissfully unaware of the luxury of a warm taxi.”
-“On the fringes of this shiny holiday wonderland, in the dark alcoves and corners of the night, are people like us, passing like ghosts around and through the bright clean tourists. We drift in circles making our home everywhere and nowhere. We hunker down in the colorless crevices of the city in the gray shadows of gray buildings where the gray snow is piled. We are gray people fading to nothing.”
-“There is something absent in mom’s love for us.”
-“This is the line my mother has always walked: she protects us and hurts us; she provides and deprives; we survive beside her, despite her, and because of her.”
-“In these moments I am proud of myself and my family in spite of our circumstances. I know we can survive anything and I see us as champions. When one trauma recedes, another rolls in, and often there is a relentless sea of adversity to overcome that leaves marks, both physical and psychological scars. But my anchors are Alex and Jessica. And mom’s love, though constant and unreliable, is real. I don’t know where we’ll end up next, but when the daily burdens bear down on me, these moments lift me back to the surface where I can breath enough to kick forward and push my way toward a distant shore, a better place than this.”
-“Woven into that effort was the conscious decision not to hold her accountable for her disease. It was hard to keep this conviction sometimes. When she put herself and others in danger, I had to remind myself that it wasn’t her fault. Knowing that allowed me to understand her, forgive her, love her, and accept the love that she was able to offer. If I blamed her for all of it I would have lost myself in that hatred. To this day I have to remind myself that she wronged me, but she’s not culpable. I wanted and still pray more than anything to be able to reach into her mind and quiet the voices, to meet and love the woman that they destroyed.”
-“Poverty is never about the future. The poor are consumed with the now, as they must be to survive.”
September 26, 2022
I love a true story where the downtrodden triumph over hardship—and A Place Called Home delivers. David Ambroz, through grit, courage, and integrity, overcomes obstacles beyond my imagination. I found myself cheering for him and the siblings he steadfastly protects, wondering how they were going to survive. David does more than that—he thrives—and then he pays it forward. A Place Called Home is an awe-inspiring story that will lift your spirits and soften even the hardest heart. It’s a beautifully told, captivating memoir.
December 15, 2022
This is one of the best memoirs I have ever read and one of the best books I have read this year.
It actually shocks me that this book does not seem more well-known.
Ambroz has the ability to share an incredibly traumatic story, with incredible empathy toward his mentally ill mother. He does not open up his trauma to the reader just so they can be a bystander to a car crash, instead, he uses it to advocate for systematic change to the foster care system. He points out throughout the book where the system failed and where adults could have stepped in but did not. Instead of placing all blame on his abuser, he does the more complex thing of addressing the lack of mental health services, lack of support for queer kids (especially in the foster care system), lack of health care, lack of support for parents living in poverty, and lack of support for the mentally ill. He also does a good job of pointing out where the reader can advocate for change.
It is a tremendous read. I highly recommend it!
It actually shocks me that this book does not seem more well-known.
Ambroz has the ability to share an incredibly traumatic story, with incredible empathy toward his mentally ill mother. He does not open up his trauma to the reader just so they can be a bystander to a car crash, instead, he uses it to advocate for systematic change to the foster care system. He points out throughout the book where the system failed and where adults could have stepped in but did not. Instead of placing all blame on his abuser, he does the more complex thing of addressing the lack of mental health services, lack of support for queer kids (especially in the foster care system), lack of health care, lack of support for parents living in poverty, and lack of support for the mentally ill. He also does a good job of pointing out where the reader can advocate for change.
It is a tremendous read. I highly recommend it!
February 11, 2023
As a teacher and parent, this book hit me incredibly hard. I witness children living in poverty every day at work, and have often been a part of meetings in which the horrors of students' lives are discussed ~ the details of foster arrangements, the arrests of parents, the visits to parents in jail, the mandatory reports and the depressing reality of how long responses to these reports take. But as a teacher, we just get the logistics and then are expected to teach as usual with "empathy for the difficult situation". We often aren't given any more information. Sometimes we are given none, and then when massive issues arise we are left wondering how we could have helped more. Because the truth is, we can all do more. We should have been doing more all along. The question is always how.
David Amroz has gifted us with his story of survival. Survival of the most unthinkable childhood circumstances that no one should ever have to endure, and a tale of how adults failed him and his siblings at every single turn. Parents and school personnel and churches and social workers and foster parents and the justice system. He has a clear path for how these people and organizations can do better and while his story is heartbreaking, he leaves the reader with hope that we as a society can improve the system. A Place Called Home is also a story of a young boy learning what it means to be gay in the 90s in a system designed to counsel foster kids toward straightness. It's tragic and highlights the urgent work we need to do in this area as well.
This book is not easy to read, but despite its subject matter, I was riveted and finished it in less than 24 hours. When you feel emotionally ready to handle this story, I implore everyone to read it. For context, also make sure to listen to Ambroz's interview with Zibby Owens - this is where I learned about the book, and it offers so much hope following the pain of the author's childhood.
Source: public library print copy
David Amroz has gifted us with his story of survival. Survival of the most unthinkable childhood circumstances that no one should ever have to endure, and a tale of how adults failed him and his siblings at every single turn. Parents and school personnel and churches and social workers and foster parents and the justice system. He has a clear path for how these people and organizations can do better and while his story is heartbreaking, he leaves the reader with hope that we as a society can improve the system. A Place Called Home is also a story of a young boy learning what it means to be gay in the 90s in a system designed to counsel foster kids toward straightness. It's tragic and highlights the urgent work we need to do in this area as well.
This book is not easy to read, but despite its subject matter, I was riveted and finished it in less than 24 hours. When you feel emotionally ready to handle this story, I implore everyone to read it. For context, also make sure to listen to Ambroz's interview with Zibby Owens - this is where I learned about the book, and it offers so much hope following the pain of the author's childhood.
Source: public library print copy
January 17, 2023
This was a hands down 5 star book. Not only was it beautifully and engagingly written, but it was utterly heartbreaking and inspiring at the same time. The authour does not allow us to walk away thinking “if people would just work hard enough, they could get ahead” - through his story, he outlines the soul crushing way that homelessness affects children (often innocent and helpless in the face the challenges that their parents face) how the foster care system failed him and others and provides concrete actionable steps to improve. This is not a dry preachy book - this is a gritty memoir of a survivor of homelessness and the foster care system that allows the resilience and beauty of his spirit to shine - and forces the critical issue of child welfare into the light.
December 10, 2024
I loved! loved!… this heart ranching memoir of a courageous, strong yet overly compassionate man.
It’s the story of being gay in the foster system. It’s about a mother who has severe mental illness who abused her children physically and emotionally. It’s about severe poverty, abuse, neglect yet also about survival and resilience.
The ending is beautiful and very powerful. I would highly recommend this memoir.
Enjoy 🍷
It’s the story of being gay in the foster system. It’s about a mother who has severe mental illness who abused her children physically and emotionally. It’s about severe poverty, abuse, neglect yet also about survival and resilience.
The ending is beautiful and very powerful. I would highly recommend this memoir.
Enjoy 🍷
May 15, 2023
4.5 ⭐️ Heartbreaking and inspiring - I simultaneously couldn’t put it down and sometimes had to avert my eyes. Even prior to having my own children, I talked about wanted to be a foster parent. I stopped In the middle of a chapter, in the middle of the night, and finally requested the info from the state. Thank you for sharing your story, David.
October 9, 2022
This is the second best memoir I have read this year . It made me think a lot about problems as foster care, poverty, trauma, violence, mental illness but in the same time gave me hope that despite all of that we also have kindness, love, courage, hope, determination to change our path, ambition. David Ambroz succeed it and showed as that we always have a way out from poverty and that is through education !!!
May 16, 2023
Amazing memoir of struggle, survival, and resilience. Throughout the book Ambroz constantly wonders about the supports that were supposed to be protecting children in his and similar situations. This book is a call to action to support children without the supports that so many of us take for granted. Compelling.
June 20, 2023
Vacation mode: no review. Heartbreaking devastating memoir that focuses on the burden that is placed on a child in poverty and indictment of society that criminalizes it. I could not put this book down as difficult as it was.
September 4, 2024
Wow! This book was more than just a memoir; it's a powerful, heart-wrenching, and ultimately uplifting story of survival against unimaginable odds. From the very first page, Ambroz pulls you into his world, where poverty, abuse, and homelessness are daily realities. Yet, despite the darkness that pervades his early years, what stands out most is his indomitable spirit and unwavering hope.
Ambroz's writing is vivid and deeply personal, painting a clear picture of the struggles he faced growing up in an abusive home and later on the streets. But what truly sets this memoir apart is his ability to weave in moments of humanity, kindness, and resilience that he encountered along the way. These moments serve as a reminder of the power of compassion and the impact it can have on a person's life.
The narrative is both heartbreaking and inspiring, showcasing the complexities of the foster care system and the challenges faced by those who grow up within it. Yet, through it all, Ambroz emerges not just as a survivor, but as a beacon of hope, demonstrating that even in the darkest of times, there is a way forward.
Ambroz's writing is vivid and deeply personal, painting a clear picture of the struggles he faced growing up in an abusive home and later on the streets. But what truly sets this memoir apart is his ability to weave in moments of humanity, kindness, and resilience that he encountered along the way. These moments serve as a reminder of the power of compassion and the impact it can have on a person's life.
The narrative is both heartbreaking and inspiring, showcasing the complexities of the foster care system and the challenges faced by those who grow up within it. Yet, through it all, Ambroz emerges not just as a survivor, but as a beacon of hope, demonstrating that even in the darkest of times, there is a way forward.
August 14, 2023
a story of survival… a devastating and true look at a child’s life full of circumstances beyond his control including a parent with mental illness, poverty, violence, hunger and more. hard to read at times but very provoking and inspiring
“Children in poverty are given kernels of assistance but are rarely rescued from their circumstances… America watches its children suffer in poverty, shaking our heads in sadness, and driving onward thinking it’s someone else’s job to help those poor folk.”
“Children in poverty are given kernels of assistance but are rarely rescued from their circumstances… America watches its children suffer in poverty, shaking our heads in sadness, and driving onward thinking it’s someone else’s job to help those poor folk.”
July 21, 2024
Everyone should read this and imagine if everyone who does makes one small change to impact foster care and social biases. I am glad I learned from this book but embarrassed that I have always turned a blind eye to issues in foster care or that I have seen issues and not acted. I am committing to change that through where I make donations as well as getting more involved
December 24, 2022
Many tears were shed throughout this book (sad and happy). A must read.
March 30, 2023
4.5. Started off a little slow for me, but overall very good and awful and heartbreaking. Ultimately hopeful in the sense of Ambroz and his action and call to action to all readers to do better by children in foster care. It is something I have thought about for my future for sure. Though I do not want to have children of my own, someday when I am ok with feeling more settled, I hope to be a good, stable foster parent.
September 20, 2022
Best memoir I have read this year. Heart wrenching and inspiring. This book should inspire all of us to do more for children in need.
June 13, 2023
This was a book club pick for Pride month. We do not often read biographical stories, so it was a change of pace. The book is a reteospective chronological telling of the highs and lows of the author's childhood with moments of insight from his adult perspective.
**Trigger Warning**
The author shares his personal experience growing up with a mother who suffers from an unspecified mental illness, resulting in him and his two siblings growing up without a stable living situation. From sleeping on the streets of New York, in all-night dinners, at train stations and sometimes even men's shelters; the author paints a vivid image of what his days and nights were like during his early childhood. The physical, verbal, and emotional abuse that young David and his siblings face from their mother and then later from foster parents was difficult for me to read at times. This is by no means a light read to pick up before bed. This is an emotional rollercoaster that had me riveted for the entire journey. I read this book in just 2 days, I was emotionally invested in very heart wrenching minute of David's tale.
I personally relate to many aspects of this book, in ways that I can not fully express. Hearing David share how the system repeatedly failed to help him and his siblings after repeatedly reporting abuse and his relentless ambition for a better life leaves the reader inspired into action (or at least me). When David expressed how his perceived sexuality limited his foster placement options to a youth determination center that was intended exclusively for criminals; I was in tears at the further abuse he faced from those who were supposed to protect him and the systems that failed him over and over again.
David has grown up to be a remarkable man; a nationally recognized poverty and child welfare expert and advocate. The call for action and reform that the book concludes with has inspired me to push to complete my foster parent goals (that were put on hold during 2020). As a middle/working class, college educated, multi-racial, queer and non-Christian household; I interset with many of the desired demographics needed by the foster parent system in the United States today.
I firmly recommend this book and hope that many more people consider becoming a foster parent as a result.
**Trigger Warning**
The author shares his personal experience growing up with a mother who suffers from an unspecified mental illness, resulting in him and his two siblings growing up without a stable living situation. From sleeping on the streets of New York, in all-night dinners, at train stations and sometimes even men's shelters; the author paints a vivid image of what his days and nights were like during his early childhood. The physical, verbal, and emotional abuse that young David and his siblings face from their mother and then later from foster parents was difficult for me to read at times. This is by no means a light read to pick up before bed. This is an emotional rollercoaster that had me riveted for the entire journey. I read this book in just 2 days, I was emotionally invested in very heart wrenching minute of David's tale.
I personally relate to many aspects of this book, in ways that I can not fully express. Hearing David share how the system repeatedly failed to help him and his siblings after repeatedly reporting abuse and his relentless ambition for a better life leaves the reader inspired into action (or at least me). When David expressed how his perceived sexuality limited his foster placement options to a youth determination center that was intended exclusively for criminals; I was in tears at the further abuse he faced from those who were supposed to protect him and the systems that failed him over and over again.
David has grown up to be a remarkable man; a nationally recognized poverty and child welfare expert and advocate. The call for action and reform that the book concludes with has inspired me to push to complete my foster parent goals (that were put on hold during 2020). As a middle/working class, college educated, multi-racial, queer and non-Christian household; I interset with many of the desired demographics needed by the foster parent system in the United States today.
I firmly recommend this book and hope that many more people consider becoming a foster parent as a result.
Read
February 16, 2023I always find it hard to rate and review memoirs and biographies but with this book it isn’t hard at all. This is such a well written and powerful story! David Ambroz has written a gut wrenching, raw, heartbreaking, amazing and hopeful book. The resilience of the author with everything he has faced is beyond remarkable and that has me saying there is hope found in this book. As detailed in the book the author lives a life of homelessness and poverty as a child. At a young age he realizes he can’t continue to live this way with his mentally ill mother. The compassion and understanding he has for his mother is powerful even as he knows he has to leave her and enters the chaotic and poorly managed foster care system. Every fear we have for children in care seems to have befallen this child. Complicating matters further is that he is gay and during this time period being gay is not something that is accepted in most of society. This is a heavy book but is very important to read. I am so impressed to see what the author has overcome and achieved in his life. I highly recommend this book but be aware there a lot of details that will be uncomfortable as well as emotional triggers for some readers.
September 13, 2022
Was so moved when I read this book by David Ambroz. My wife works in the child welfare system and stories like David's are very rare. Not the trauma or conditions in which David and so many children grew up - that is sadly an all too common theme - but his ability to transcend those conditions - to persevere and grow into an adult that has devoted his life in service of others - especially for the children who are the most vulnerable among us. This book should be a call to action - for us to do more and to fight harder - to advocate for better legislation, more funding for foster care, and to sign up to be foster parents ourselves.
December 27, 2022
Wow…what a book to end the year with! This book is devastating, gut wrenching and heartbreaking. I’m in utter awe of Davids journey. His determination and ability to find grace for his mother and the broken foster care system are a testament to the human spirit. This is a book that delves into a traumatic life the majority of us will never even come close to understanding. It is why I read memoirs-to discover and develop empathy and compassion for others.
March 6, 2023
Should be required reading for politicians, lawyers, social workers and teachers. Well written and similar to The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls. It will keep you thinking about this topic long after you finish reading it.
October 17, 2022
OMG, so many trigger warnings, and some scenes I'll never forget. But also: this book is POWERFUL and will fire you up to make a change in the foster care system.
January 25, 2024
ughhh, my heart hurts for all the kids in foster care that we have failed as a society.
David’s story was so difficult to read and at times I had to catch myself from completely sobbing. It is inconceivable to me how grown adults could treat a child so poorly yet it’s clear that America has so far to go in this regard.
In terms of the writing - I was wanting a bit more for the ending. It almost felt rushed or kind of hard to tie all together. However, I have empathy for the fact that telling such a personal story must be so difficult.
David’s story was so difficult to read and at times I had to catch myself from completely sobbing. It is inconceivable to me how grown adults could treat a child so poorly yet it’s clear that America has so far to go in this regard.
In terms of the writing - I was wanting a bit more for the ending. It almost felt rushed or kind of hard to tie all together. However, I have empathy for the fact that telling such a personal story must be so difficult.
April 10, 2024
I don’t think I have the words to say how important this book was to me. Ambroz articulates the way shame lingers with you from neglect as a child and his stubborn resolve to make a better life for himself in a way that is so powerful
August 15, 2024
I enjoyed this book, and wow did it open my eyes to the horrors of poverty and the foster care system. Some of his writing was a bit clunky, but overall his story and journey in life are very inspiring.
November 11, 2022
A top read of 2022 for me. In “A Place Called Home,” David Ambroz delivers a deeply touching, at times perturbing, yet often sanguine family portrait of his youth in homelessness and the foster care system. I left this book having shed more than a few tears but also being deeply inspired by David’s forging of the possible and called to action to explore what change might look like for a deeply flawed foster care system in the US. Can’t praise this book highly enough.
December 27, 2022
An emotional memoir about growing up in poverty, experiencing neglect, abuse, trauma, homophobia, and the systematic faults within the foster care system. A must read. I couldn’t put it down.
January 4, 2023
Stunning. Challenging. Gut wrenching. You must read! I’m grateful David was willing to share his story with us. What a gift to have this perspective to bring into the work I do as I too imagine a better child welfare system.
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