Shari Franke’s memoir The House of My Mother is a must-read, especially in light of recent laws, regulations, and questions put forth about the role of social media in our children’s lives. Hear it from a young woman who lived her entire childhood online.

The shortest story is that the Franke Family was the focus of the “8 Passengers” channel, and last year, her mother was arrested, charged, and sentenced with multiple horrendous acts of child abuse and neglect along with her business partner, who I won’t waste space on here.

[Please note that with the exception of the Franke children like Shari who are going public, and more importantly are not minors anymore, I will not say the names of her younger siblings, the victims of their mother’s deranged idea of being a parenting influencer. Yes, their names are easily found already, but why contribute to their continued harm? Any comments with the names will be deleted.]

Here I go into much more detail on the background (massive content warnings: abuse, neglect, emotional torture, physical torture, religion–the Mormon Church), but I urge you to read this sample from Shari Franke’s memoir, describing the moment she saw her family finally getting the help they needed.

Text from memoir “The House of My Mother” by Shari Franke. Published by Simon & Schuster

“A surreal thought bubbled up. This moment, the climax of my family’s descent into madness, needed to be documented, preserved, and shared on social media. Just like every forced smile, every staged perfection had been, too.
I pulled out my phone, my hands steady despite the madness around me.
Frame shot. Snap
The caption crystallized in my mind, a single work that carried the weight of years:
FINALLY.
Upload to Instagram. Share.
This nightmare was born on social media–it should die there, too.”

Read our live blog from the day of Ruby Franke’s sentencing.

Photo/Image Credit: Canva, Reddit/8PassengersSnark, Simon & Schuster

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