Cover of Alfie's Home.

Cover image from Google Books.

Alfie's Home

Creator

Richard A. Cohen; illustrated by Elizabeth Sherman

Date

Published 1993

Format

Collection Context

A children's book from conversion-therapy advocacy, preserved here as harmful historical context.

Conversion therapyAnti-gay publishingChild sexual abuse in fictionFathers and sonsHomosexuality in fictionHarmful historical context

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Overview

Alfie's Home is a 1993 illustrated children's book by Richard A. Cohen, illustrated by Elizabeth Sherman and published by the International Healing Foundation. Public library records describe a story that uses sexual abuse and family conflict to explain a boy's same-sex attraction, then presents therapy as a cure. The book belongs in the collection as harmful historical context. It shows the anti-gay therapeutic and moral narratives that circulated around children while other books in the collection made LGBTQ family life visible, ordinary, and available to young readers.^{[1][2][3][4][5][8]}

Harmful Historical Context

Read this book as evidence of harm, not as a neutral family-diversity title. Public catalog summaries describe a plot that links abuse, family dysfunction, and same-sex attraction, then presents therapy as a cure. That structure reflects conversion-therapy ideology and anti-gay tropes. Preserving the book helps visitors understand what affirmative LGBTQ children's books opposed: not only invisibility, but stories that taught children to understand same-sex attraction as damage.^[1][2][4][5]

Conversion-Therapy Frame

Modern medical and public-health sources reject conversion therapy for minors. SAMHSA's report on supporting LGBTQ youth gives the record an institutional frame for why the book's premise is historically significant and ethically troubling. Cornell's evidence review similarly summarizes the consensus that attempts to change sexual orientation lack support and may cause harm. These sources let the public record identify the book's ideology without presenting its claims as valid therapeutic knowledge.^[8][9][10]

Children's-Book Form

The object form matters. Conversion-therapy arguments often appear in adult counseling, religious, legal, or policy settings. Alfie's Home translates that framework into a children's-book format, with illustrations, a child protagonist, and a story of family repair. That form makes the book especially relevant to a collection about children's access to LGBTQ-related books. Children's publishing was not only a site of inclusion; it also made harmful theories child-readable.^[2][4][6]

Collection Counterpoint

Placed beside books such as Heather Has Two Mommies, Daddy's Roommate, and Asha's Mums, Alfie's Home clarifies the stakes of representation. Those books make LGBTQ family life visible in ordinary domestic or school settings. Alfie's Home does the opposite: it treats same-sex attraction as confusion to be resolved. The contrast helps explain why affirmative family books were not merely adding variety to shelves. They were contesting narratives that pathologized children, parents, and queer adults.^{[12][13][14][8]}

Timeline

1993PublicationPublic library records place Alfie's Home with the International Healing Foundation in Washington, D.C.^[2][3][5]
1993Library catalogingOpen Library and NYPL preserve the ISBN, LCCN, page count, and subject trail for the book.^[3][2]
2002Author ethics contextWashington Post reporting records Cohen's permanent expulsion from the American Counseling Association for ethics violations.^[7]
2015Public-health contextSAMHSA released a report rejecting conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth and recommending affirming support.^[8]
2020Research consensus contextAPA coverage described state regulation of sexual-orientation change efforts and summarized professional concerns about harm.^[10]

Bibliographic Notes

The current record uses public catalog metadata for the 1993 edition.

1993

International Healing Foundation edition

Library records list a thirty-page illustrated book published in Washington, D.C.^[2][3]

Explore Connections

Browse direct links, shared themes, and nearby publication dates.

Linked records

Affirmative two-mother counterpoint

Heather Has Two Mommies

Heather Has Two Mommies presents a child's lesbian-parent family as ordinary; Alfie's Home belongs to the opposing history of anti-gay therapeutic storytelling.

References [8][12]

Affirmative gay-father counterpoint

Daddy's Roommate

Daddy's Roommate makes gay fatherhood visible for children, while Alfie's Home frames homosexuality through abuse, confusion, and cure.

References [2][13]

School-recognition contrast

Asha’s Mums

Asha's Mums concerns a child whose two-mother family must be recognized by school authority; Alfie's Home reflects a therapeutic authority model that rejects same-sex identity.

References [8][14]

Nearby dates