Releasing Jenna: One Woman's Struggle Raising an Abused Child

"You can call me Mom if you want to." Jenna looked at me. "You're not my mom. When am I going home?" Alice and her family invite Jenna into their world, even as the little girl refuses them entry to hers. Jenna is a survivor, having spent her first years caught between the intense pain and danger of living with her mother and the enabling love of her grandparents. Her reaction to her new, stable home environment is not at all what Alice expects. Instead of welcoming it, Jenna pushes her new family away time after time. Before long, phone calls all too often bring distressing reports about the child they are trying to care for. In time, Alice realizes her own well-being is in jeopardy as she attempts to navigate her career, her relationships with her husband and her two daughters, and a seemingly never-ending string of setbacks in her attempts to parent a deeply disturbed child. In the end, Alice's quest to provide safety and connection for a wounded little girl becomes something altogether different-a years-long lesson in learning how to let her go.