Check out my articles, which include: the latest research in children’s mental health, information about effectively managing behavior, and recent news on the needs of troubled children and teens.

About the Author

Margaret Puckette is a Family Partner for the Wraparound project in Portland, Oregon, serving low income families and troubled teens. She was previously a family partner for Trillium Family Services, which operates two psychiatric residential centers in Oregon, and supported patients’ families.

The Family Partner's role is multi-faceted: to support, inform, advocate for, assist, and advise a young person's family and community supports, so that they can become a stable support network for the teen once they leave professional care.

About the Book

“Raising Troubled Kids” is a book for anyone raising a child or teen with a serious mental or emotional disorder. This book is especially useful for a parent or caregiver who needs information and answers quickly. It includes help with techniques, structure and boundaries, treatment, and family and self-care.

The information is drawn from professionals in the mental health professions, psychiatric research, residential care centers, attorneys, and literally hundreds of families and siblings of a child or teen with serious behavioral problems.

Learn how you can survive and thrive despite the challenge of the toughest parenting job of all. Even if there is no diagnosis, you can start to heal yourself, your family, and help your child now.

“The most important message in Raising Troubled Kids is that parents who have children with mental health situations are not alone. The book is a blessing to those who don’t know what to do next, or even where to start."

--Earl Maxwell, CEO, St. David's Community Health Foundation, Austin, TX

Understand and Remember

All families experience the same struggles, no matter what the child’s diagnosis or reason for their serious behavior.
All family members cope with intense feelings of: guilt, anger, frustration, anxiety, or grief.
Most families are unfairly blamed for causing their child’s problems.
The steps to finding harmony and order in the home are the same for everyone. They lead to safety and sanity for all family members.

“Raising Troubled Kids” is filled with practical parenting information: tried and true techniques used by other parents, advice from therapists and psychiatrists, the voices of troubled kids, and wisdom and stories from family members of a troubled child.

"We have read several of the excerpts from the easily understood book and they are right on target, touching, and encouraging."

Ralph and Margaret M., Texas