Assignment: THE BOY WHO WAS RAISED AS A DOG

This is an assignment for my Child Welfare Class. It is a non-traditional book review. The book was The Boy Who Was Raised As a Dog.





As I flipped through the pages of this book I found myself getting angry at the situations that the children in this book face. Author Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D., explains how he gets so know each and every one of the cases that he comes across. The book title was based off of chapter 6. In this chapter we learn about Justin, who was the boy who had been raised by a dot. He was introducing to Dr. Perry in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). Justin was covered with his own feces, food all over his face, and his diaper was soaked with urine. He went crazy when the nurses tried to hold him down to draw blood. He was being treated for Pneumonia. As Dr. Perry reviewed his charts he would glance over to see Justin rocking in him with his knees wrapped in his arms. He was humming or moaning to himself and they would let out an angry shriek. Immediately when I read this I wanted to know Justin's back ground. I wanted to know what made this child tick the way he did, why was this little boy acting the way he was. This is Justin's background: Justin's mother was 15 when she gave birth to him. When he was only two months old she permanently left him with her mother. Justin's grandmother, and caretaker was morbidly obese and had health problems that made her very sick, eventually she died when Justin was only 11 months old. Justin's grandmother's boyfriend took care/ babysat him. Arthur (not the boyfriend’s real name) was in his late sixties, and didn't know how to care for a young child after the death of their loved one. He contacted Child Protective Services asking for a permanent arrangement that would be more suitable for both Justin and himself. However, CPS wasn't respondent to this request. Arthur wasn't malicious or necessarily abusive, but he was neglecting and ignorant about the needs of a child. Arthur was a dog breeder and turned to raising Justin with the same style. Justin was kept in a dog cage. He was fed and changed, but he was rarely spoken to, played with or nurtured. For 5 years Justin lived this way. This saddens me and other cases throughout the book even made me angry. Sadly when Arthur brought Justin in for his occasional medical check-ups no one asked about the living situation or development that Justin was growing up with. Justin suffered from shrinkage of the cerebral cortex and had fluid filled ventricles in the center of his brain. Over all his brain looked like that of an older person suffering from severe Alzheimer’s disease. At the age of five this poor little boy couldn't walk or talk. After five years of living such an awful conditions Dr. Perry was the first to ask about Arthur's rearing practices. Justin was taking care of, after two weeks Justin was discharged from the hospital. He was given a foster family and over the next few months made incredible progress in his deveoplement and his behavioral issues. After six month Justin was transferred to another foster family. After two years Dr. Perry received a letter hand written from Justin: "Thank You, Dr. Perry. Justin". He admits that he cried. The case of Justin has kept many case workers and Psychiatrist more aware and has helped other children coming through the system be treated much better and with better awareness. The point, in my opinion is that there are going to be hundreds of thousands of kids coming and going through the system, they all have a history. Some may not be as extreme as Justin's but they can range from abuse (sexual, physical or emotional) to neglect. I think that people involved with child protection , child welfare, social work, psychological therapy or counseling, the list could go on should all take the stores that come out of Dr. Perry's book to become more active in the aid of this trouble youth. They shouldn't slip through the system such as Justin. Thankfully Justin made remarkable progress over the next two years of his life. Dr. Perry admits that he has taken what he has learned and is often reminded of Justin’s case in a way that make proactively stronger within the system.