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, and 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 it 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 graduated 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.

(2022, hardcover, 384 pages)

 

Coalition Staff Member Review

I learned about David Ambroz’s memoir during a panel discussion presented by the Human Rights Campaign All Children All Families campaign and moderated by Ambroz himself. The panel focused on the needs of LGBTQIA+ youth in the child welfare system. Ambroz spent several years in foster care, and I was eager to read more about his experience and perspectives.

A PLACE CALLED HOME is a deeply emotional and moving reading experience. David and his brother and sister spent years living on the streets and in poverty. Hunger, fear, and uncertainty are constant companions. The youngest of the siblings, David was a self-appointed mediator, doing whatever he could to keep the family together and his mentally ill mother stable. Until he reached an impossible breaking point and entered foster care.

David hopes foster care will be his salvation, but things don’t exactly work out that way. His story is a mix of tragedy and triumph and spurs him on to advocacy with the National Foster Youth Advisory Council. There are moments of deep heartbreak, and yet his spirit to never give up and to succeed is palpable on every page, giving A PLACE CALLED HOME an undeniable feeling of hope.

Note: The book does include descriptions of child abuse, sexual violence, and sexual activity.

 

Author: David Ambroz
ISBN: 9780306903540
Count: 1