er. Both parents were alcoholics. They lived in a good neighborhood in a modest home. Until the abuse began, Daves life with his parents and brothers was good. In his words, Our every whim was fulfilled with love and care (Pelzer, 1995). The two areas of diversity I recognized in these books are economic status and disability. Because of Dave's ragged clothing, unkempt appearance and inadequate hygiene, he was an outcast at school. Though Daves parents were financially capable of providing for him, his mother withheld from him food, appropriate clothing and other basic material necessities of life. Dave took food from other childrens lunches at school in order to survive. His schoolmates were aware of this, and it served to set him further apart from them. The children called him names and he had no friends.Two of the disabilities that were apparent to me while reading these books were the alcoholism of Daves parents and Daves developmental issues.Application of Developmental TheoriesFamilies are systems in which each individual has a unique relationship with the other individuals in the family. Daves place in his family was, indeed, unique. The subsystem consisting of Dave and his mother had a foundation in the boundaries set by the mother. Daves role in the family was, essentially, that he was not a part of the family. Not only that, Daves identity was stripped away by his mother. At the onset of the abuse, she began referring to him as the boy. As the situation worsened, she referred to him as It, hence the title of the first book in this series.At the time of Daves rescue, he exhibited two of the four behavioral indicators of abuse that were established in 1979 by the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. He exhibited overly compliant, passive and undemanding behaviors aimed at maintaining a low profile, avoiding any possible confrontation with a parent which could lead to abuse (U.S. Department of Health, Education and ...
