Sadness, sorrow, and misery overwhelm the reader while reading Dave Pelzer's book, The Lost Boy.

As a young boy, David was brutally punished and tortured by his mother. Seeing his life as a game, the boy never cried, especially in front of his mother. He believed this would only be entertainment and satisfaction for his mother. However, the story takes a drastic change whenever David is rescued from his home by the social services. Even though he is out of his mother's wrath, David still faces many struggles and many new emotions that he has never felt before. The Lost Boy reveals what an abused child goes through once put into foster care. Through this book, Pelzer shows what "The System" is like for a child. The book starts with the trial and how young children are expected to make a very big decision in front of everyone, their parents, social worker, and the judge. It all boils down to the child's choice; they are to decide whether they should become a ward of the court until their eighteenth birthday. This decision must be decided while in the presence of their enemy, their parent(s). The child senses a feeling of hatred from their parent(s). Knowing what is for their best interest, most children become wards of the court, like in David's case. However, their are some children who still are victims of their parent(s) and choose to stay with their family.

After a decision is made, the child goes either back home or into foster care. In this book, the reader is taken into the foster care system in California. Many foster homes where visited for short periods of time. From each home, the reader learns more about how the children treat one another and their possessions. Also, the reader sees how much trouble a foster parent must go through in order to raise a foster child or children, especially the ones who don't obey the rules of the home. Eventually, the child is put into a home in which he will stay for a longer period of time. The reader notices that the foster parents genuinely care for and truely love the children, even if they act up a few times. Next the child is enrolled into a new school, where the child faces many new difficulties. Typically, the foster children are very poor, with old, ragged clothing and very few school supplies, just enough to get by. They become isolated and depressed because they feel like they aren't normal, because they don't have all new clothes and school supplies. Therefore, it is very difficult for the child to make new friends. So, they typically fall into the wrong crowd and will do anything in order to feel like they are a part of a group, even if it is a gang. Following this path, the child falls into the disaster of trouble. If this happens, the children wind up getting placed into the nearby

juvenile hall. In this case, the reader is taken there, into the C-Wing, where the physically, psychologically, and sexually abused children stay. Here, the reader sees how much attention the staff give the children that really need help. With all the children living in the hall, it is difficult for the employees to give attention to all the residents. However, they do try their best to help whenever they can. If one acts correctly and does what he or she is demanded of, they are able to return to their foster parents. Whenever the child arrives, the others look at him or her differently. Mostly the other children feel fear whenever they are in the presence of the child, because they feel as if they are really harsh and malicious. The child then feels new emotions; they feel even more secluded. Not only is the child secluded at school and in town, but in their own home. They also have to earn repsect and trust from their foster parents, who are keeping a close eye on the child. All of these things are very typical of a foster child who fears turning eighteen as they become older. In the book, foster care was a major relief to David; it was a safe-haven, away from cruel abuse and neglect. However, David had to learn many things about the foster care system in order to survive. Being a new foster child, many other

children unkindly harassed David. After a few months of moving from foster home to foster home, David understood that the other children mainly cared for only themselves and their survival. They would steal your belongings; so, David quickly learned to carefully keep an eye on his possessions, especially his favorite things. After being around the children, David learned which children to stay away from and how to avoid confrontation with them. David strived to be a good little boy by doing his best to avoid getting into trouble. Sadly, it seemed that no matter what he did, he was always at the wrong place at the wrong time. Soon, David became very defiant as he fell into stressful situations. Stealing candy from the local grocery store became an everyday hobbie of David's. He became very rebellious and did only what he thought was best for himself. Trying to make new friends at school, David found himself in a deep hole of trouble. His soon to be friends required that David be initiated into their gang. First, they asked David to flatten the tires on Mr. Smith's new car; however, David stopped in the middle of the procedure because he felt very guilty and knew what he was doing was very wrong. The next day, John, the leader of the gang, forgave him

for his weakness, but his next mission received was way worse than the other. John wanted to burn down the school. He was asked to be only the lookout while John started the fire in Mr. Smith's room. David accepted. When the day came to carry out the task, David was very nervous. After school, he found John had already lite the fire without him being there. When David entered the room, he saw that John was nervouslly trying to put out the fire, but wasn't very successful. David tried to help, but didn't help much. John ran away in fear, but David stayed fiercely trying to put out the fire. A few days later everyone believed that he had started the fire. Nobody believed that he was actually the one trying to stop it. As a result, David's life was brought to an abrupt stop. His foster parents, the Catanzes, revealed to David that after the incident, he must be placed into the juvenile hall, "The Hill." So a few days after the fire, David was checked into the San Mateo County Juvenile Hall. Eventually, David was released and returned to his normal rountine at the Catanzes home. In the book, Pelzer shows how much the social workers and foster parents do for the children. However, in our world today, a different perspective is viewed when Child Protective Services (CPS) are

mentioned. In everything, no matter what it is, a weakness or a mistake can be found. There have been many times where something has even gone amiss within the socalled "holy" churches. It seems that the majority of people tend to point out all these weaknesses, even in those organizations and businesses that are there to help our communities, such as the police, fire, and ambulance rescue. People that hold these positions help save our lives everyday, yet people pin point only the mistakes made during emergency situations. The CPS is treated the same way, even though they are the ones who save abused children! What about all the good that is accomplished through hard work, determination, and perseverance? Usually, the good deeds are welcomed and soon forgotten and lost in a sea memories. Only the best of the best performances are doted upon. We all remember 9/11 as an insane terrorist attack, but do we really remember and appreciate those who rescued the dying and injured under all the ruble? Mostly, all we hear is all types of threats against the Al Qaeda and how they are going to pay for their attack on the U.S. We are apt to only take into account all the evil that takes place in our world. The same goes for the CPS; indeed, multiple problems can be found within the programs, but what about the noble actions of all the social workers? These

actions are typically thrown out the window and never honored. Social workers are the ones who save children by taking them out of the hell that they are living in and putting them with foster parents. These foster parents are real heroes to the abused children; their home is like heaven to the poor children, where they are no longer facing the dangers from their past. Foster parents make a postive impact on our world all the time, yet they receive little pay and hardly and recognition of all their accomplishments. They should be rewarded way more than what they are. Even though they don't receive public praise, the best thing they receive, which is most important to them, is to see the children in better places than what they where in before. "They [take] in a heap of hideous mass and [transform] a terrified child into a functional, responsible human being." (Pelzer 307) To begin with, people need to realize how many children are actually in need of beign set free from the bondage of cruelty. There are millions of children who must be given relief from their horrifying situations at home. In 1987 alone, around 2.2 million children were reported as possible victims to abuse and neglect.
(Besharov)

These children need help! That is exactly what the social workers and

foster parents do for a living, they commit their lives to saving children. They are the ones who save, protect, and provide for the abused and neglected.

However, it is believed that foster parents do what they do only for the money. This is mostly incorrect, although some people do raise children in order to receive some pay, most do not. Many end up falling "victim to the emotion of love."
(Pelzer 308)

In Iowa, "over 65 percent of the foster parents...end up adopting their

foster children." (Pelzer 308) If this is carried out, the parents are therefore not entitled to financial support, proving the idea erroneous. While reading the book, I realized how much the people in this field of work do and how much good is achieved by their endurance. When the fight gets tough, they don't quit, it only drives them to want to do more and help get children out of tough home environments. Their work in very much appreciated in my eyes and I can only hope to help the cause as much as I can. Hopefully, more children are helped and problems in the CPS system are changed to better help the children. One of these days, abuse and negelct will be prevented. However, the mistakes need to be found so that they can be fixed and perfected as much as possible, for nothing can be entirely perftect.