In many countries, it is common to share a household with your siblings, parents, grandparents and other members of your extended family. Each parent, child, or grandparent contributes to strengthen the family as a unit. In the United States, families tend to break away from one another and do not usually live under the same roof. Parents get divorced and children move across the country to attend college or start a new job. “Aloneness, ‘independence,’ is valued as a virtue,” writes Lisa Gray-Garcia in her debut memoir, Criminal of Poverty: Growing Up Homeless in America. Independence, however, may not be fruitful without a support system. After her parents’ divorce, Gray-Garcia, the daughter of a doctor father and a mother with a master’s degree in social work, finds herself stuck in the cycle of homelessness and poverty with no family members to reach out to. (more)
