A Look At Change Me Into Zeus’s Daughter
A Look at Change Me Into Zeus’s Daughter
Through the Multidimensional Framework
Mary McClure
Loras College
[HBSE – April 5, 2011]
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A Look At Change Me Into Zeus’s Daughter
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The Multidimensional Framework is a crucial element of social work practice. The format
examines multiple concepts within four hypotheses—biological, psychological, social, and
spiritual—to observe all aspects of a person, considering both the strengths and hazards
associated with that hypothesis. It becomes clear that concepts from each of the hypotheses
influence one another; therefore by having a thorough understanding of these concepts within a
client, social workers are more equipped to pinpoint where to make changes and foster and
encourage strengths. In Barbara Moss’s memoir, Change Me into Zeus’s Daughter, it is clear
that the aspects of Barbara’s life in each hypothesis influence each other. The memoir follows
Moss as she grows up in poverty in rural Alabama with her seven siblings, alcoholic and abusive
father, S.K., and strong willed mother, Dorris. This report will examine aspects of Moss’s life
according to the framework, along with providing answers to further questions about the author’s
experiences.
The first aspect of the multidimensional framework is the biological hypothesis. While
social workers are not expected to fulfill the role of a doctor, it is important for them to
understand the body and how it functions so they are able to explain bodily issues in “layman’s
terms” to their client. It could also affect how a social worker understands other parts of their
client’s life in regards to the other hypotheses. If something is not working correctly in the body,
especially in the brain, it could explain why the client is acting in a certain way. Also, when
looking at these other hypotheses, it is possible that a social worker may see something the
doctor misses. The first part of the biological hypothesis assesses biophysical growth and
development. This aspect considers a client’s growth and development, including their prenatal
growth, and examines the client’s history of attaining developmental milestones, along with
examining their general health status.
When examining Barbara’s biophysical growth and development, it is important to
realize that malnutrition (which will be further investigated in the next section of the biological
hypothesis) impacted her development. Without the proper nutrients, Barbara’s face and teeth
grew abnormally. As she developed in her childhood, she described her face as such: “My face
had always been askew somehow, but now it grew beyond itself, twisted and knurly” (p. 66). By
the time she was fifteen, she had grown to 5 feet, 8 inches, and her face had continued to develop
in an abnormal fashion. It was long and thin, with the upper portion longer so her chin was
nearly nonexistent. Her mouth was puffy and red, her upper gum-line showed, and her upper
teeth protruded to the point that she was unable to touch her lips together. She also did not
develop a normal chin. Also at age 15, she was diagnosed with pyorrhea, a gum disease, when
she was finally able to see a dentist for the first time. The dentist figured malnutrition had caused
this disease (p. 220). Her malnutrition also caused her to grow skinny and gangly with thin, weak
bones.
Because of Barbara’s abnormal development, she went to doctors over time to help fix
the way she looked. Plagued by the development of several large moles on her face, she went to
the dermatologist with just enough hard-earned money to have one of the moles removed. Out of
charity, the doctor removed six moles for the price of one (p. 216). This was the beginning in her
quest for physical beauty. As mentioned, Barbara’s malnutrition caused multiple problems in her
mouth. She finally got a chance to see a dentist when she was fifteen and was diagnosed as the
worst case he had ever seen. Though the price of dental work seemed astronomical, Barbara and
the dentist worked out a payment plan. The procedure started off with her wearing headgear
night and day. While this may have been an embarrassment to many teenagers, Barbara was
excited to wear it, as she “wanted [her] teeth pushed back as soon as possible and [she] wanted
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the kids at school to see that [her] teeth were being fixed” (p. 221). Later, she got braces. The
dental work allowed her to chew with her teeth making contact and kept her lips from bleeding at
night, which gave her confidence (as noted in the Psychological Hypothesis).
Along with the biophysical hypothesis are the biophysical hazards, which include general
health, presence of symptoms, family history of diseases and cancers, and problems with any
major organ systems. As previously mentioned, Barbara developed facing severe malnutrition,
the result of starving as a child. In her younger years, her father left and did not send money; the
family often did not have food unless their neighbor, Mamie, stopped by with catfish. As Barbara
describes of their situation: “Mamie had no way to knowing that the few flopping catfish, lips
strung through a rope, were all we had to eat some days. Three or four catfish, fried in a cast-iron
skillet and divided between eight people, was not enough food for an entire day. If Mamie didn’t
stop by, there was nothing to eat at all” (p. 29). The family often had the bare minimum—and
sometimes less—to get by on, surely lacking the necessary vitamins and nutrients that are
especially important to development and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
Barbara also faced multiple sicknesses. While the family was living with their Aunt Janet
(her mother’s sister), Barbara suffered from the measles. While in her teens, she suffered from a
sickness with multiple symptoms including: high fever, spotted, purple, swollen tonsils, inability
to eat, vomiting, swollen knees and elbows, half-conscious state, irregular heartbeat, and thin,
pale skin. Barbra recalls her mother worrying that Barbara would die, her father responding,
““I’ll take her to the doctor, Dorris. Don’t you worry about it,” Dad slurred as he staggered back
out the door” (p. 169). However, her father never took her to the doctor. She slowly recovered,
but without proper medical intervention, her sickness was likely more severe than it could have
been had she gotten the antibiotics she needed. She later found she had cardiac arrhythmia from
the rheumatic fever she suffered from at age thirteen (p. 271).
Another hazard for Barbara was that both her father and uncle were alcoholics. It is
believed that alcoholism has a genetic link; therefore, Barbara is more at risk for developing the
addiction as well. Not only does she have the genetic predisposition, she encountered many
stressful situations, including poverty, abuse, and divorce, that could have led her to excessive
drinking as a coping mechanism. The novel did not allude that Barbara suffered from any
addictions, but is still an existing hazard that she should be aware of.
The psychological hypothesis is the second aspect of the framework. It is important to
understand how a client thinks, as that helps a social worker understand the client’s behavior. It
is necessary for social workers to be familiar with the research of psychologists such as Freud’s
Dynamic Theory of Personality, Erikson’s Stages of Development, Watson’s learning through
classical conditioning and Skinner’s learning through operant conditioning, and Piaget’s theory
of cognitive development. The first element of the psychological hypothesis is labeled cognitive
development and information processing. This describes a client’s memory, concentration,
abstract thought, learning abilities, and abstract thoughts.
Barbara was left handed and was often teased about it by her father, who nicknamed her
“Southpaw.” He attempted to force her into using her right hand, making her write on a
chalkboard every night. He even went so far as to tie her left hand around her back with rope.
While Barbara had fine writing with her left hand, using her right hand led to impaired
processing. She recalls, “I tried to copy what my father had written, pushing up on the chalk
rather than pulling down, sometimes making the letters backward…My head buzzed. I thought
I’d never be able to think straight again” (p. 24). Though this, her father discouraged the
advancements she had been making and rather, forced her to try and relearn writing in an entirely
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new way. It is also notable that Barbara was good at memorization; the children would often
memorize poetry to recite as a gift, such as they did for their Aunt Janet’s Christmas present.
Barbara recited “The Donkey,” by G.K. Chesterton. While at first she sputtered, she eventually
recited the entire poem (p. 111). Memorizing poetry continued to be an important aspect of
Barbara’s life; the family was not able to get many new books, so instead she memorized the
ones that she had. It is clear that Barbara has a fine memory, as she was able to construct a
memoir of her experiences, going in to detail.
When a social worker considers the communication aspect of the psychological
hypothesis, they asses the client’s language and vocabulary, including any speech impediments,
and the client’s level of education. As an adult, it is clear that Barbra used her communication
skills as a source of healing when she wrote an essay about some of her experiences in poverty,
for which she won the Gold Medal for Personal Essay in the William Faulkner Creative Writing
Contest. That essay evolved into the memoir Change Me Into Zeus’s Daughter, which ultimately
became a highly praised national bestseller. However, Barbara was not always able to
communicate her feelings so freely. While living with her parents, she was not allowed to cry.
After a frustrating day as a child, she was tempted to cry around her father, but knew he would
say “If you’re gonna cry, let me give you something to cry about” (p. 24). Barbara’s mother also
disapproved of crying; as Barbara noted: “Mother often stared into space, but she never cried.
Tears had become an emotion she denied herself and, consequently, denied her children” (p.
113). In her youth, it was necessary for Barbara to suppress her emotions.
Not only did she have to suppress her emotions, she also had to keep secrets from her
parents, disabling the open communication which is beneficial to families. She describes, “I
would just file it with all the other secrets; I had so many secrets already that I couldn’t always
remember what I was keeping from whom. There were secrets to be kept from Mother. Secrets to
be kept form Dad. Many, many secrets to be kept from everyone at school” (p. 197). For
example, she had to hide from her mother that her father had traded one of their cars for food
stamps, and she had to hide from her father that they had rented a piano for personal growth,
development, and entertainment. This closed communication and secrecy within the family was
did not create a healthy environment.
Despite all the odds in her poverty-stricken upbringing, Barbara was able to continue her
education through graduate school. In high school, she made a goal that she wanted to go to art
school, and she achieved that goal. She attended art school in Sarasota, Florida, and attended
graduate school at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.
Along with a client’s communication abilities, it is important for a social worker to
understand the client’s attitudes and emotions. This includes her range of emotions and
responses, her self-perception, and her self-statements, which help the social worker gage the
client’s self-concept. It is also important to understand her perception of others in terms of her
attitudes and behaviors. One of Barbara’s paramount insecurities was that, due to her abnormally
developed face, she disdained how she looked. Though her life was a struggle of poverty, her
greatest wish was to be physically transformed: “Venus: goddess of beauty, much-loved
daughter of Zeus, stonecutters’ muse—a star that encompassed everything I had been praying
for. I closed my eyes and made a wish: Change me into Zeus’s daughter, but the night was so
bright and Dad’s voice so sweet that I instantly took it back. I opened my eyes, looked at the star,
and wished again. Just a little bit of beauty” (p. 136). Her insecurities kept her from ever feeling
confident around other people, as she always wanted to be invisible so she was not teased. For a
while, she was unaware that other people were as insecure about their looks like she was. This
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changed when she realized her neighbor, Fuzz, covered his mouth when he smiled because of his
broken and rotten teeth. Barbara recalls in surprise, “I did the same thing-covered my mouth with
my hand, especially when I smiled!” (p. 199). As previously mentioned, Barbara began to
transform her looks. This led her to attaining greater self-confidence and felt that others had a
more positive outlook on her. “The progress of the braces caused a constant sense of excitement,
like a buzzing, through my body. I had started looking at people when they spoke to me, not for
very long, just a glance, but still—looking at them. I felt…crackling, popping and full of
promise” (p. 240).
As an adult, she underwent a radical facial surgery which completely rebuilt and
transformed her face. However, while she had finally found the beauty she wanted on the
outside, she now questioned if the people who paid attention to her with her new face would
have given her the same time of day. She cited an example of a man at her gym, who she had
overheard say that he would have sex with her if she put a bag over her head. This story
reminded her of a time a peer said he would only eat lunch with her if she put a bag over her
head (pp.308-309). She later saw the man at the gym with her new face, and he treated her
entirely differently. This led to an identity crisis which she worked out through counseling.
Often, Barbara did not feel needed at home. She took the initiative, however, to find ways
to feel needed by taking control of everything she could, especially by caring for her younger
siblings Willie, Doris Ann, John, and Janet. She fulfilled a maternal role, regulating her siblings’
behavior through such means as: “I told them when to go to bed at night and when to get up for
school, where they could go and where they couldn’t, when it was right to go barefoot and when
they had to wear shoes. I regulated the afternoon housecleaning, throwing out commands like a
general” (p. 100). Since she herself did not get much positive attention from her parents and
therefore did not have a sense of being needed, she used her relationship with her siblings to find
a positive source of work. Barbara became especially involved with her youngest sister, Janet.
As she recalls on caring for her: “Most of the kids picked on me, but at least at school I had heat
and lunch. When the bell rang, I ran home to Janet. She was so small that taking care of her
made me feel strong and gave me a sense of control” (p. 118).
Another important aspect of the psychological hypothesis is the client’s social cognition
and regulation. This includes the client’s knowledge and expectations about their friendships and
relationships, capacity for empathy, reality base, social skills, problem-solving skills, and
maladaptive behavior problems. Barbara developed two maladaptive behavior problems that
intensified around age nine: violently rocking back and forth and wetting the bed. These
problems were in response to her father’s abuse, as there was a direct relationship between the
amount of abuse and the intensity of her symptoms. For Barbara, rocking back and forth was “a
comfort…a steady, dependable rhythm” (p. 99). However, the bedwetting was something that led
her to feeling out of control. When her mother would take the wet mattress outside to dry,
Barbara felt that “it was as if everyone in the world was being told about my problem, as if they
could see through the skin and bones to my heart, where control of his life had slipped away” (p.
100).
Barbara’s knowledge of a loving family was hindered by her parents often not meeting
the expectations of what this kind of relationship entails. For example, as mentioned earlier
Barbara fell very ill and her father did not take her to the doctor. As her fever symptom began to
slip away, her mother and father “went blindly through the days, pretending I wasn’t sick. She
became irritated if I vomited or collapsed dizzily into a chair. Both of them looked through me as
if I weren’t there at all” (p. 170). She did not have high expectations for her father, as she knew
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his tendencies to drink away all their money and do little to support the family. While her mother
nurtured and did what she could to support the family, ultimately her relationship with S.K.
hindered her from providing everything the children needed.
This negative notion of family life knowledge led to two failed marriages for Barbara.
Barbara had just graduated high school when she married her first husband, but quickly realized
that he was controlling, forbidding her to have friends or a job outside the home. As she
remembers, “After a few months of marriage, I realized I was a captive house servant and all of
my dreams were lost. In fact, living with my husband was worse than living with Dad” (p. 265).
From this marriage, she had a son, Jason, who would become a strong aspect of support for
Barbara. She later remarried, but reminisced by recalling that Des Moines was the “final
destination after getting the inevitable divorce from my second husband and running away to art
school in Florida” (p. 293). Since she had never experienced a positive marriage, it was nearly
impossible for her to have one herself. However, she had formed enough reality bases and
problem solving skills to know to escape the unfulfilling marriages.
Finally, it is important to study a client’s psychological hazards. The client’s experiences
with their past and recent life events can lead to psychological damage that it is necessary to be
aware of. Barbara, her mother, and siblings faced regular abuse from S.K. He would often come
home from the bars, usually around 3 A.M., and wake everyone up to make them do ridiculous
chores or other tasks. As Barbara recalls, “We had suffered enough bumps and bruises in our
young lives to be painfully aware that a drunk can hurt you in an instant and not remember it the
next” (p. 61). Abuse can affect a client for their entire life, especially in context with their selfimage and other relationships.
The third part of the framework is the social hypothesis. This includes the client’s family,
neighborhood, and social relationships. It also includes the context of the client’s environment
and how the client is viewed by society and by systems she interacts with. Awareness of a
client’s social system can help understand their strengths and supports. It is important to be
aware of a client’s family groups and support systems. This includes the family’s boundaries and
their systems and groups. It also includes their patterns of communication, conflicts, strains,
expectations, and roles. Not only is knowing the family important, but other groups the client
interacts with and support systems that are available to the client as well.
Many issues existed within the Moss family. S.K., Barbara’s father, was an alcoholic and
an abuser who spent the little money he earned at the bar. He also rejected charity and
government aid, as he concluded “I can take care of my family, by God!” (179). He had been
married to Margie before Dorris. She was killed by a car while S.K. was in the military overseas,
which also caused him to miss the funeral (242). Tragedy often leads to depression; this could
have been the trigger to S.K.’s addiction. Dorris, Barbara’s mother was the chief enabler within
the family. As Barbara recalls: “She should have gotten mad about all the stuff that he did, but
she didn’t. She just pretended it didn’t happen: leaned up the broken dishes and furniture, hid
bruises, took him aspirin and breakfast in bed and kept us quite and out of the way. She
smoothed everything over, like putting icing on a charred cake” (p. 81). Dorris still did what she
could to best care for her children. She used music, art, and books to nurture them, which could
have influenced Barbara’s interest in becoming an artist. When things seemed impossible, Dorris
found another way to make it work, such as when she moved the children to live with her sister,
Janet. Barbara had seven siblings whom she grew up with (Alice, Stewart, David, William, Doris
Ann, John, Mary Louise and Janet) and one little sister, Mary Louise, that Barbara later learned
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had been possibly given up for adoption. The bond between the siblings helped them survive.
Because of the poverty and abuse, multiple conflicts plagued the family.
The family often went to other members of the extended family for support, such as when
they lived with Dorris’s sister Janet in Birmingham. Janet’s family sacrificed their house by
fitting twelve people into the small building (p. 56). S.K. also went to his brother, Jake, for
support, which will be discussed in more detail later in this report.
The Moss family’s neighbors often provided support, as many of them were in similar
circumstances. As mentioned before, while they were living in Eastaboga, their neighbor Mamie
would provide them with catfish, which was often their only food. In Kimberly, each family was
struggling so greatly that they used each other as support systems. Barbara’s best friends were
Lizzie and Donna Sue, whom she met while living in Kimberly (p. 138). She also felt accepted
for the first time while living there, as she recalls: “They didn’t tease me about my cracked dry
mouth and protruding teeth and never mentioned my bony nose, or the fat dark moles scattered
across my face. Nothing could dim their hunger and admiration for what we had [Mother]. I was
in. Accepted” (p. 140). The neighborhood children spent many hours together, escaping from
their personal struggles within their own families, using each other as support.
The Moss family did not make use of very many outside support systems. One time,
some of Barbara’s siblings attended a summer camp for children in poverty, but Barbara had to
stay home to take care of her sister Janet. As mentioned before, they rejected government
assistance. Barbara did not find much support from her school system.
It is also important to consider a client’s cultural systems, especially their cultural
dimensions, including the values, beliefs, and actions that are based on their upbringing and are
different from the larger society. The Moss family moved multiple times throughout Alabama,
often living in housing with unsafe and dirty conditions. As Barbara recalls, housing was always
one of their top problems: “We needed so much that it was hard to calculate what was most
important, but a bigger house was certainly high on the list” (p. 192). The family was evicted
from their house in Birmingham, which led them to moving to Kimberly for two years. The
conditions were stark: “The wooden shacks they left behind, which lacked plumbing and paint,
were rented out. Mostly alcoholics and their families lived in them…The house we moved into
looked like a tree house built by children: five unpainted rooms of weathered gray wood twelve
feet above the ground on poles” (pp. 131-32). The house had no sink and they only had a two
burner electric hot plate to cook on. This house later caught on fire. Many people in society
would consider this an unfit place to live, but for the Moss family, it was their only option.
Barbara also encountered items that signified that her family was poor. Even though
many of their neighbors faced poverty, she felt especially singled out as a child. For example, in
elementary school she was never able to buy ice cream like her classmates, so she had to sit in
the classroom alone. She had old, worn out shoes, and when she had the opportunity to receive
new, free shoes, she was sorely disappointed to find that every pair they gave out were exactly
the same, and would therefore signify her as poor: “On Monday, all the poor students would be
wearing identical burgundy penny loafers. We might as well wear sandwich boards that read,
“I’m Poor”” (p. 184). This created a disconnect with her peers and led to bullying.
The social hypothesis can also present hazards. As mentioned, Barbara was bullied by her
peers throughout her school years for both her looks and her family’s monetary problems. As she
reflected on her high school years: “Some of the boys, mostly the school athletes, tortured me at
every opportunity during the day…The heckling began before I made it to the door of one class
and continued until I entered another. They pointed out each of my flaws as if I’d never looked
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in the mirror, starting with the most obvious one—my teeth—and on to the least offensive—the
moles on my face” (p. 210). They also teased her for being poor. These relationships crushed
Barbara’s self-concept and reinforced her negative feelings about herself.
Another social hazard for both the family and Barbara was that support sometimes came
from their Uncle Jake, S.K.’s brother. He too was an alcoholic and often coaxed S.K. into
business plans that often failed, such as a worm farm and a flower garden. S.K. “would do
anything for Uncle Jake, regardless of how stupid, and imitated his every move, matching him
drink for drink and dollar for dollar in his get-rich-quick schemes that never panned out” (p. 76).
When he burnt his home down, he lived with the Moss family, often playing with guns and
shooting them while drunk.
While the spiritual hypothesis is not recognized by all social work professionals as a part
of the multidimensional framework, it is clear that it is important to acknowledge this part of the
client’s life, as this is part of using cultural competence to understand her. It is important to note
that social workers should work to seek understanding of the client’s spirituality, not impose her
own personal beliefs on the client. That being said, it is necessary to acknowledge that many
times, life challenges that bring individuals to social workers may also cause them to seek
meaning and guidance in their spiritual practices. Barbara was baptized into the Methodist
Church (p. 235) and would sometimes pray. As a child, she grew up with her father presenting
Bible verses as riddles (p. 73). The family also had light-up artwork depicting the Last Supper,
which was one of the nicest things that the family owned.
One thing that Barbara struggled with after her father’s suicide was wondering if he
would be committed to heaven or hell. Since he often did not remember abusing his family
because he was intoxicated, she wondered: “Did he use that excuse when he had to explain
himself to God? Or did God send him straight to hell? …I can’t stand the thought of him being
in hell … Maybe God has a special place for dead alcoholics” (p. 49). As mentioned previously,
Barbara also prayed about changing her looks.
It is also necessary for social workers to realize that contemporary issues often include a
spiritual dimension. For example, Barbara may have used her spirituality to cope with the
domestic abuse she witnessed within her family. Churches often reach out to the poor, but the
Moss family rejected these acts of charity. Barbara may express her spirituality through her
artwork as a way of healing.
Overall, Barbra had a poor relationship with her father. It is not surprising, considering how
his actions led the family into poverty and both mental and physical abuse. However, Barbra’s
portrait of her father is well rounded. She recants both negative and positive experiences with
him, such as the touching moment when she recalls that while he teased her, he would never
tease her about her face: “But he never teased me about my misshapen face, crooked buckteeth,
or the dark moles around my nose; and, consequently, neither did anyone else in the family” (p.
161). Barbara’s abnormal facial features were an easy target, especially for her peers, but her
father showed her compassion by not jumping on the bandwagon and encouraging that teasing
even more. She also notes that her father further prompted a bond between the siblings:
“Everyone else in the world could be mean to us, but he wouldn’t let us be mean to each other”
(p. 205). By keeping the children from being mean and turning against each other, he created a
support system so that they could rely on each other during their trials. She also included
experiences she shared with her father, such as when he taught her to drive: “As the driver, he
treated me better than when I was just part of the horde of noisy kids around his house” (p. 239).
It was during this time of sharing that he told her about his wife that had died while he was in the
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military. By sharing these intimate moments in kinder times, Barbara created a well-rounded
portrait of her father.
Barbara recalled moments from early in her childhood, so it would be no surprise that some
of the events, especially those regarding her father, have been distorted because of her innocent,
young age at the time they occurred and the amount of time that had passed since those events
actually happened. With the amount of times he abused her and the number of transgressions he
accumulated over time, it would be no surprise if events blurred together or even were erased
from her memory as a coping mechanism. Overall, she got the message across: S.K.’s addiction
led to intensified problems for the family. Many of the struggles they faced, especially the
poverty and abuse, could have disappeared had he focused on being the best husband and father
he could and recovering from his alcoholism.
Had the Moss family accepted government help, the children would not have faced such
severe hunger and poor living circumstances. To help Mr. and Mrs. Moss understand what a
difference it could make, I would explain to them that while it is important to be strong, it
sometimes is necessary to ask for help. I would explain to them how government aid would give
them the opportunity to feed their children food that would provide them with the vitamins and
nutrients necessary to healthy development. It would be important to explain that if S.K. started
saving his earnings instead of spending it all on drinking, along with using government aid to
help fund their grocery bill, the family could start saving money that could be used for medical
bills, better housing, and other needs. Once they developed better saving habits and built up
some funds, they could get off the government aid: they do not have to be on it forever. To make
the point especially clear, I would prepare a day’s worth of food that the children regularly eat
and also prepare a day’s worth of food that they could be feeding their children with if they
received food stamps. Physically seeing the difference between the two may have a bigger
impact than just trying to explain it to them.
By foregoing government help, it could impart the value of self preservation on children,
showing them you can only have what you work hard for and earn. It could also teach
responsibility, showing that when you get money, you have to make smart choices about where it
goes. However, the children should not suffer, especially though facing starvation, because of the
poor choices their parents make. There are other ways to teach children these lessons without
denying them basic needs.
At a young age, children may not understand exactly what government help is. What is
important is that they have food in their bellies to nourish their growing minds. As they mature,
they begin to understand government aid. It could show them the value of humility: sometimes
you just cannot do it alone and need to ask for help. It could also show them the importance of
hard work, especially if their parents are working hard to get off of government assistance.
Looking at Barbara from a strengths perspective, she has multiple assets. Barbara has a desire
and skill to care for others, especially children. She was a big influence in raising her siblings,
particularly Janet, and she raised her son Jason as a single parent. Barbara was given a large
support system through her siblings. Her graduate school level education is also a major strength.
Related, her passion for art and writing is a strength, as she can work on expressing herself.
Barbara’s perseverance is also an important strength. Finally, her drive to make something out of
herself is an invaluable strength.