Safe, Mark Daley
Safe, Mark Daley
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

Safe
A Memoir of Fatherhood, Foster Care, and the Risks We Take for Family

Author: Mark Daley

Narrator: Mark Daley

Unabridged: 8 hr 15 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/30/2024


Synopsis

“If you want a lifechanging book, this is the one to read.” —The View

“A truly revealing” (Hillary Clinton) memoir of an unlikely journey to parenthood through America’s broken foster care system.

What does it take to keep a child safe?

As a long-time strategist and activist fighting for better outcomes for foster children, Mark Daley thought he knew the answer. But when Ethan and Logan, an adorable infant and a precocious toddler, entered their lives, Mark and his husband Jason quickly realized they were not remotely prepared for the uncertainty and complication of foster parenting.

Every day seven hundred children enter the foster care system in the United States, and thousands more live on the brink. Safe offers a deeply personal and “riveting” (Booklist) window into what happens when the universal longing for family crashes up against the unique madness and bureaucracy of a child protection system that often fails to consider the needs of the most vulnerable parties of all—the children themselves.

Daley takes us on a roller-coaster ride as he and Jason grapple with Ethan and Logan’s potential reunification with their biological family, learn brutal lessons about sacrifice, acceptance, and healing, and face the honest, heartbreaking, and sometimes hilarious challenges of becoming a parent at the intersection of intergenerational trauma, inadequate social support, and systemic issues of prejudice.

For fans of Nicole Chung’s All You Can Ever Know, Stephanie Land’s Maid, and Roxanna Asgarian’s We Were Once a Family, Safe is “a strong indictment of a failed child welfare system, but with an unexpectedly happy ending that speaks to the power of love” (Kirkus Reviews).

About Mark Daley

Mark Daley is a social activist, entrepreneur, and foster-turned-adoptive father. Daley has over two decades of experience in message development, communication strategy, and public policy, including as a communications director and spokesperson for then-Senator Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign. He has worked with more than thirty members of Congress, numerous governors, and other elected officials. He is the founder of One Iowa, the state’s largest LGBTQ+ equality organization, and TheFosterParent.com, a national platform to connect interested families with foster organizations. Daley lives in Southern California with his husband and three children.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jennifer ~ TarHeelReader on May 11, 2024

Thank you, @atriabooks, for the gifted book. I also purchased the audiobook, narrated by the author, from @librofm. About the book: “A heartrending and unforgettable memoir of an unlikely journey to parenthood through America’s broken foster care system. What does it take to keep a child safe?” Mark D......more

Goodreads review by Haley on May 08, 2025

First book since my reading fast!! And an excellent one. As a new foster parent, this book felt so helpful to acknowledge the crazy collision of emotions i’m having, the complexity of foster care, and just sharing a real story. Well done.......more

Goodreads review by Natalie on February 28, 2024

This book was hard to read—mostly because it highlights many of the broken pieces within the foster care system. I’ve watched some of these realities firsthand through my work at SOS Ministries but this portrayed a firsthand look from the foster parent perspective as they fight for the safety and su......more

Goodreads review by Kelly on September 07, 2023

Mark is an amazing storyteller and I was quickly on board for the rollercoaster ride as he and his husband began the foster to adopt process. It's something I went through with my husband and I enjoy reading books about the topic. This one was written so well and there was so much emotion that came......more

Goodreads review by Tae on November 18, 2023

I don’t usually write reviews for Memoirs. How do you rate or judge a book about someone’s experiences, their life? (But I received an ARC of this through Goodreads giveaway, so I’m gonna give it a go). Daley is a great writer. I found myself repeatedly thinking about how good the narrative style wa......more