Patty’s Journey: From Orphanage To Adoption And Reunion - Hardcover

Norling, Donna Scott

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0816628661 ISBN 13: 9780816628667

Publisher: Univ Of Minnesota Press, 1996

Synopsis

In 1936, four-year-old Patty Pearson was taken from her parents and placed in the State Public School for Dependent and Neglected Children in Owatonna, Minnesota. Once at Owatonna, Patty was separated from her sister and brother, was sexually abused by the school janitor, and contracted tuberculosis. She was placed in two foster homes where she endured a variety of emotional and physical abuses. Eventually adopted at the age of seven, she would not see her sister again for more than thirty years.
Through her late childhood and teen years Patty learned to negotiate the shoals of life as an adoptee - striving for full membership in the family, repressing her anger at being forbidden to discuss her past, wondering what became of her sister, brother, mother, and father. As a young woman coming of age she grew to appreciate the good things her adoptive family offered her even while holding on to a sense of self they wanted her to suppress.
Patty's Journey is a richly textured account of people struggling through the Great Depression and war years, but it also illuminates the customs and small victories of that era, often in surprising and humorous ways. Although it provides a disturbing look at child-rearing practices in state orphanages at the time, it is ultimately a redemptive tale of one woman's bravery in facing her past - and moving ahead toward a future that included both her selves.

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Reviews

YA. In 1936, while the harsh fist of the Depression still maintained its grip on much of the population, Patty's father helped to rob a store?and was caught. It was a foolish decision, but he had a young wife, two small daughters, and a baby boy to feed. Once he was incarcerated, the state of Minnesota "rescued" the children from their indigent mother and placed them in the State Public School for Dependent and Neglected Children. Separated from her siblings, and facing infrequent visits from her distraught mother, four-year-old Patty begins her journey. Her story describes her attempts to see her brother and sister, ill-fated placements in foster situations, molestations, and, finally, adoption. The book follows her new life as Donna Ruth, her eventual marriage, and her search for her past. Patty's story also details the horrific care of orphans and dependent children in the middle part of this century. The value of this book to YAs is not only in its depiction of a young child's courage, but also in its lessons in history. Attitudes toward the young and poor are vividly described. An afterword chronicles the treatment of displaced children from the English colonies through the 20th century. Interesting and thought-provoking.?Carol DeAngelo, formerly at Fairfax County Public Library,
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

When she was seven years old, the author was told about a girl named Donna Ruth. "Do you like that name?" asked her new adoptive father. "I nodded my head dumbly... 'Good,' he said, apparently satisfied, 'then that will be your name from now on.'" In that moment, Patricia Ann Pearson was replaced by Donna Ruth Scott. Three year earlier, in the depth of the Depression, Norling's father had been arrested for burglary. A few months later, Norling, her older sister and baby brother were placed in Minnesota's Owatonna State Public School. After being bounced from foster home to group foster home and back to Owatonna, Norling had become a toughened, somewhat cynical observer of adult behavior; of dormitory pillows that were on beds during the day, in lockers at night; of state examiners who prodded her about her favorite foods when the institution mandated cornmeal mush; of her new-minted identity. Despite her adoptive family's well-meaning, if misguided, attempts to erase Norling's past, she retained both her toughness and her skepticism. There is refreshingly little self-pity?which doesn't mean that Norling isn't sharply aware of her own position and of the combination of shame and sentimentality that surrounded adoption. Norling uses a slightly childish tone in the earliest pages that is beneath her generally fine prose. But her observations of children, adults and finding one's self in the most changeable circumstances are what make this book an excellent addition to the many memoirs coming out this fall.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This book is a child's bittersweet memoir of institutionalization, foster care, and adoption in Minnesota during the Thirties and Forties. The story begins at home with Patty's family during the Great Depression. Patty describes her wrenching experience of family separation, beginning with her father's incarceration and her mother's inability to support her three children (at that time the state could remove indigent children from their families). Patty was also separated from her siblings by the state, and, after a brief encounter in foster care, she was adopted and given the name Donna Scott Norling. Over 30 years later, Patty was reunited with her sister and birth mother. This is a stunning example of the instability of institutional and foster care and how closed adoptions can strip away a child's identity. The preface and afterword add historical perspective to the political climate and social programs of that time. Recommended for public and academic libraries.?Lisa A. Errico-Cox, Nassau Community Coll. Lib., Stewart Manor, N.Y.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Univ Of Minnesota Press
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0816628661
• ISBN 13: 9780816628667
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208