Susan DuMond’s memoir, Another Place Called Home: Surviving Foster Care, revisits six teenage years in a group foster care home. Told in the young girl’s voice, the story reveals what any foster child would want to be known: how their futures seem to be made from sadness and thin air. And how mentoring can save a young life. The memoir covers the themes of coming of age, living in an institution, re-unification hopes with a parent, aging out of foster care, and the importance of mentorship. It’s a timely testament to the needs of displaced children.
Another Place Called Home is receiving worthy attention:
“An articulate, painful and touching journey… Well-honed, primarily present-tense prose lends an air of immediacy to the memoir.” – Kirkus Reviews
“Susan DuMond’s riveting memoir, Another Place Called Home, shines a bright light on territory unknown to most of us, the foster care system, and explores it from the candid point of view of a child struggling not only to survive but to construct a way to thrive.” – Molly Best Tinsley, author and publisher, FUZE Publishing.
“A rich, moving, beautiful memoir, important for all readers who care about children.” – Pat Schneider, author of How the Light Gets In, and a survivor of a group home in childhood.
Susan holds a BA in Liberal Arts/Theatre from Bennington College in Vermont and a PhD from the University of Oregon in Educational Policy and Management. As a technical writer and information designer, Susan has written, edited, published and collaborated on more than 25 books.
Published stories include “The Visit,” one of the top ten short memoirs to appear in Fish Anthology 2013 (Fish Publishing, Ireland) and “Lucille’s Shoes,” a finalist in a WOW-WomenOnWriting flash fiction contest.
Soon to be published is “Life Interrupted” in Fear and Courage (Exisle Publishing, New Zealand).
The author was one of the fortunate foster care kids. She hopes her story will help increase awareness of foster care youth and their needs, particularly those who are aging out.
A member of Willamette Writers, Susan resides in Southern Oregon with her husband.