ladder to the sky

All stories in "A Ladder to the Sky: A Child Counselor's Notes" are true, but identity details have been redacted to ensure anonymity and protect privacy. The names of the children were also changed, as their surnames could have identified them. The necessary elements of each case are documented in as much detail as possible, although necessary modifications have been made. For example, conversations are recorded from memory, notes, tape or video. Sadly, these stories are but a drop in the ocean compared to what we know. Over the past ten years, our clinical team at the Children's Trauma Institute has treated more than one hundred children who have witnessed the murder of their parents. We've also worked with hundreds of children who suffered very severe early neglect in shelters, with their parents, or with their guardians. We hope that the strength and spirit embodied in the children described in this book, and in the many others who share a similar fate, can be conveyed in the pages of this book.