Book Review
The Birth of Hope
by Jeane Rhodes, PhD
About the Author
Jeane Rhodes, Ph.D., is a licensed professional counselor using sandplay as her
primary therapeutic tool She teaches online for Santa Barbara Graduate
Institute. She formerly served as associate editor of the Journal of Prenatal
and Perinatal Psychology and Health, and worked in the foster care system as a
therapist and in various management capacities. She has also been a yoga
instructor, active in local, national, and international yoga organizations. Her
masters thesis, titled AMind Made Visible: Psychotherapeutic Application of
Yoga Asana,@ brought this experience with yoga into her psychology studies.
Interest in pre- and perinatal psychology led to interviews with young children
regarding their birth memories. Research continued with her Ph.D. dissertation,
which explored the prenatal expression of yoga postures and subsequent echoes in
the body of prenatal and birth experience. On a very personal level, she was a
teen parent herself and brings the emotional reality of that experience to the
creation of The Birth of Hope.
Book Description
The Birth of Hope is the story of a baby named Hope, from her conception through her birth as the child of teen parents who are in foster care at the time of her conception. Hope's story is one of coming into this world through parents who, in spite of their age and other challenges, are very attuned to their baby throughout her gestation. This story inspires new awareness of the importance of the prenatal and birth stages of life. You will come to love Hope and her teen parents as you experience the momentous events of her gestation. Her coming changes not only her parents, but the supportive community that forms around them.
Book Review
Book Review
Imagine the shock of finding, at the age of fifteen, in foster care and having had your first ever sexual encounter, that you are pregnant. Already been stigmatised by society as a no-hoper following your eldest sister who was already into drugs and on the road to ruin, along with a mother who has been into prostitution, drugs and serving a prison sentence. Scared and feeling lonely, where do you turn?
Tasha is shocked to find, after their initial despair, her foster parents support her and most of all the boy who got her pregnant, Justin, wants to look after and marry her. Justin, only 17, is also in foster care and wants to protect her and his baby. As the couple are both in foster care there is a lot of involvement with other people and meetings with the governing bodies to find out what is the best course of action for their life changing event.
The pregnancy journey is full of ups and downs, not just having to cope with the growth and development of their baby but also having to deal with the complex issues with other family members as well as their foster parents. The development stages and feelings experienced by the young couple as they go through the process is intensive and emotional.
As you follow the pregnancy you will cry, laugh, feel elation and an air of fear. The book will change your views or make you think a lot more about seeing young girls who are pregnant, it will also give you a good insight into how young mothers feel.
I thought the book was well written, both from a high amount of research undertaken and from personal experience and was very in depth. It took me on the journey with the young couple and I would recommend that any young person should read this book to help them through pregnancy or help prevent them becoming pregnant.
Tasha is shocked to find, after their initial despair, her foster parents support her and most of all the boy who got her pregnant, Justin, wants to look after and marry her. Justin, only 17, is also in foster care and wants to protect her and his baby. As the couple are both in foster care there is a lot of involvement with other people and meetings with the governing bodies to find out what is the best course of action for their life changing event.
The pregnancy journey is full of ups and downs, not just having to cope with the growth and development of their baby but also having to deal with the complex issues with other family members as well as their foster parents. The development stages and feelings experienced by the young couple as they go through the process is intensive and emotional.
As you follow the pregnancy you will cry, laugh, feel elation and an air of fear. The book will change your views or make you think a lot more about seeing young girls who are pregnant, it will also give you a good insight into how young mothers feel.
I thought the book was well written, both from a high amount of research undertaken and from personal experience and was very in depth. It took me on the journey with the young couple and I would recommend that any young person should read this book to help them through pregnancy or help prevent them becoming pregnant.
Sounds like a great read! I look forward to checking it out. Thanks so much for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for the review :)
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a very in depth book but looks to be a fascinating read. Great review!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the great review, sounds like a great book to read!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like such a great read. Thanks for the review.
ReplyDeletei have a friend who was a teen mom at 14. Her son is amazing and now 16 and she just graduated with her MBA! It can be done!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the review!
ReplyDeleteWow, that sounds like an amazing book! Thanks for your review!
ReplyDeleteWhat a journey at such a young age the girl has to go through! Great review.
ReplyDeleteSharon, thank you so much for this very insightful review. It is so rewarding, as an author, to have a reader really understand the story you are telling. I'm deeply grateful.
ReplyDelete