SHATTERED

In her memoir, Jones exposes the traumatic landscape of America’s foster and adoptive care system.

“I, like many adoptive parents, wish that unconditional love, safety and security, and hugs and kisses would be enough to save our child” from her traumatic past, say Jones. On paper, the author and her veteran husband, Kyle, are ideal adoptive parents who describe their family of seven children as “strong, inclusive, African American, and Christian.” Moreover, with a master’s degree in education with an emphasis on autism, Jones runs two child care centers that serve low-income students. While Jones’ story plays a role in this memoir, including her own childhood experiences with a father who struggled with addiction and a mother who worked 80-hour weeks, the book centers on her struggles as a parent to Mercy, their family’s second adopted child. Despite Jones’ background and expertise, she writes, “our entire structure as a family unit would be compromised” following the adoption. Diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder, a mental health condition often caused by past trauma in which a person develops multiple personalities, Mercy had been neglected and abused by a system nominally in place to protect children. Indeed, despite Jones’ best efforts to provide for Mercy at home, she made the gut-wrenching decision to send her to a residential treatment facility. A sobering indictment of America’s foster and adoptive care system, this memoir sheds light on how its very structure enables trauma and releases young adults “into society without real treatment and real care.” Not only are children ill served, Jones notes, but so too are the families who love and want to provide for their adoptive children. Told through a series of 37 vignettes often only a few pages long, this book skillfully juxtaposes the powerful love of adoptive parents with the harsh realities of modern-day adoption. Despite her emotionally shattering journey, Jones remains steadfast in her faith and belief in the power of prayer, a theme that may resonate with Christian readers who’ve had similar encounters with the foster care system.

A poignant exposé of a broken institution.