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Description: Riveting
For just a minute,
imagine the iron branding of human flesh. The putrid smell of skin
burning follows the grotesque exposure of tendons and veins. Soon,
the wounds heal, the scars fade, and the physical pain vanishes.
But, what if this happened to the same person, over and over again,
just in different spots on their body? Would you dare to look at
the disfigurement?
"Foster Care
People" depicts the invisible iron branding of the human soul. Written
from a child's point of view, the book starts quite innocently.
We witness a happy family, two parents with a son and a daughter.
Even the best of homes expect a few trials now and then. Yet the
events surrounding a kitchen fire smolder the lives of each family
member for the next several years. Lenora Williams, the daughter
and main character, attempts to warn us of the impending danger.
That's because the red-hot irons of abuse try to sear into your
consciousness, which could burn the bridges to your spirit, and
leave you numb for a while. I prayed the story only came from the
author's vivid imagination.
Lauretta Ali's
descriptions through the eyes of a child are riveting. Through Lenora,
she calmly reminds us that children are people too, not punching
bags or sex toys. I felt as if I stood in a corner of the bedroom
with my arms bound, and my mouth taped shut, while the second foster
father visited her at night. Although the skin quickly conceals
the outer evidence, time creeps to erase the psychological effects.
I recommend "Foster Care People" to anyone who raises a child, whether
for a day, two years or a lifetime.
Judine Slaughter,
eBook Reviews Weekly
Express Yourself Books http://www.rahdistributors.com
FOSTER CARE
PEOPLE by talented author Lauretta Ali is about a little girl who
grew up in a foster care. It tells how her life started out in the
system, and how it failed her and her brother instead of giving
them the same advantages as they would for white children in the
system. Continuous abuse worsens as the child grows, and at the
same time, strengthening her to be the woman she grows up to be.
Not only does the reader follow the young girl through daily routines,
it goes much deeper than that, readers will learn how just delicate
our little ones are.
This reviewer
thoroughly enjoyed reading about this young girl—even though it
was terribly heart-wrenching at times—however, the need to find
out what happens to her is powerful as the read pages flew past
my fingertips.
This book is
perfect for young adults. It is would be a great read for children
who are going through some or all of the same things that the young
character in the book is going through.
FOSTER CARE
PEOPLE should be in all libraries—public, at school, and at home.
It would also be wonderful as required reading, or suggested reading
for those in school training to become a psychologist, psychiatrist,
or sociologist.
Give a child
this wonderful gift so they may read about the emotional, self-growth,
and heart-felt tale of this little determined girl. They will remember
it forever!
--Reviewed
by: Jennifer LB Leese
http://www.geocities.com/ladyjiraff
[email protected]
Reviewer
Rating: * * * * *
Foster
Care People is a true story about the author’s life as a young girl
in the foster care system. It is sometimes shocking, appalling,
saddening, and joyful. It is a story that needs to be told, and
a story that needs to be read. Lenora and her brother, Harold Jr.,
are happy children living with their parents in New York City during
the 1950’s. Her mother, Maggie, and her father, Harold, Sr. love
each other and dote on their children. But when her father is discovered
having an affair with one of her mother’s friends, it destroys the
family. Her mother takes Lenora and her brother to live with her
grandmother, where they are ridiculed and teased for the circumstances
that brought them there. Maggie begins drinking heavily, and after
a serious fight with her sister, Maggie takes the children to their
father. He takes them in, but they are not well accepted by his
new wife, and he chooses his wife over his children and places them
in the foster care system.
What
follows is a heart-rending tale of the horrors that can happen to
children in this system, and the horrors that did happen to this
little girl. As she and her brother go from foster home to foster
home, they endure things that no one should have to endure. They
are abused, beaten, neglected, and discriminated against. They are
also genuinely loved and cared for by two wonderful foster families,
but are not allowed to stay because of that love.
Foster
Care People is not an easy read, nor could one call it a "good"
read. It isn’t meant to be. It is definitely a "must read" story.
Copyright
© 2002 by Kathy Hill, Sharp Writer Reviews
"Foster
Care People" by Lauretta Ali is a biography of a small child
who, like all children, should have grownup in a loving family,
but instead was placed in the foster care system of America. Instead
of making a better life for the child, the system failed her and
her brother and the abuse to this child only escalated. But, the
story does not stop there. It also show you the strength this child
has. As sad the story is, you will not want to put it down wanting
to know what happens next to this child and to the family.
"Foster
Care People" gives us the inside view point from a small child on
what life was like when life was "normal" and the effects
it has on the esteem and the emotional growth of a child. When the
child was loved by both parents and how those lasting memories affect
the child. Unfortunately, it also shows us how a small child sees
life and how one mistake can change many lives forever and how that
child takes the guilt upon herself and deals with it. However, it
also goes deeper into the development of a child when the system
does not work.
I believe
that "Foster Care People" should be required reading for
any Psychologist, Sociologist, and Psychiatrist and also any college
student who is going into these fields. By doing so, I think it
would help these people deal with children when "normalcy"
does not happen, or when the system fails.
--Leanne
Johnson
Heart-breaking and remarkable, Foster Care People
is a story of triumph as Lenora Williams and her family struggle
to survive and overcome the obstacles put in their paths. Meet the
foster parents who changed Lenora's life, her brother Harry Jr.,
her mother Maggie and father Harry Sr.--all of these lives, touched
and ultimately altered by what is known only as "the system."
An
unforgettable non-fiction account of victory over seemingly insurmountable
odds, Foster Care People is a book that all will be able
to draw from.
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