My Name Is Why

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In this case the original foster parents are the worst. How Christian people could treat a child in their care in this manner beggars belief. They give Christianity a bad name!

My Name is Why is a scathing indictment of the British care system in the '80s. The same system that still fails many children to this very day.Lemn, Sissay (8 March 2013). "One Extraordinary Woman in My World Now". lemnsissay.com . Retrieved 3 July 2013. As Sissay tumbled towards adolescence things appeared to deteriorate. He had been conditioned to feel that his birth mother had rejected him (something that is provably incorrect) and it seemed his foster parents were building themselves up to do the same, much to his bafflement. For Sissay’s reminiscences are of a normal enough childhood – the small misdemeanours, familial arguments – and yet in the eyes of the Authority and of Mrs Greenwood his actions were viewed in quite a different light:

Searing . . . Unputdownable . . . My Name Is Why is authentic and beautiful, a potential game-changer in public attitudes to children raised in care. It's about bureaucratic cruelty and what happens when love is absent. Don't miss it" ( The Times) How does a government steal a child and then imprison him? How does it keep it a secret? This story is how.

Even at this distance, it is difficult to ascertain exactly what was happening within the Greenwood household. What is clear, is that Sissay was unsettling his parents with his vigorous exploration of life, which pushed the boundaries of their staid religiosity. Inevitably, it would be Sissay that lost out: A fourteen-year old boy should never have to ask the questions Who is my mother? and Who are my family? These were not easy questions to formulate in the mind or the mouth because the question comes with others . . . What did I do to deserve this? It's a troubling read. Lemn did not know where he came from. He did not know the name on his birth certificate. His birth mother was portrayed negatively, he was conditioned to fear God. His developing years were unstable and unpredictable. They are not easy to remember and can be a bit confusing for users. If your name is too long, you will have fewer opportunities to increase the number of followers.