Ruby was born in the United Kingdom. As a young woman, her desire to explore the world took her backpacking across many of the harder-to-travel countries. Following her love of adventure, Ruby emigrated with her young adoptive family to New Zealand in 2008. Unfortunately, since her daughter's diagnosis, the lack of awareness of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) means that every ministry has failed to support the family unit. Generally, individuals and their family's needs are ignored; they are shoehorned into services that are coercive and abusive. Ruby has written this memoir in a measure of desperation, to give families such as hers, who just seem to be invisible, a voice. Her aim is to highlight the inequities in policy and services for those living with FASD in New Zealand. Ruby holds an honours degree in social work and a diploma in mental health and addiction studies.