Kathy Harrison

Kathy Harrison tells of her experiences foster parenting in this book. It's heartbreaking but inspiring.

We all hear horror stories of foster care in the news and they seem so far removed from our everyday lives, but it is Kathy's normal. I appreciated her honesty and her fairness in assessing the children, the birth and foster parents, the professionals, and the system in general. She is quick to point out the bad, as well as the good. She is humble and gracious, and forthright about her own failings.

I would recommend this book to any prospective foster parents who want to know what really goes on in the system; and also believe anyone who knows a foster parent or child could benefit from reading it, for a better understanding of the other individual's circumstances.

Update 9/28/20: I just finished reading this for the second time, and it's just as good as it was the first time around. I did notice a few curse words and typos this time, but honestly, the book as a whole is so good that I still feel it deserves five stars!… (meer)

4.5 stars

Another great book by foster mom Kathy Harrison. Her writing is very fluid, and I got through this book in a matter of hours, despite the hard topic and the need to stop reading and just think for several moments.

What I love most about her stories is that she is very transparent about her flaws. She doesn't claim to be the "perfect" mom and readily admits areas where she made the wrong decision, or at least not the best one. She doesn't do this in a self-deprecating or even falsely humble manner, but rather pragmatically - in a this-is-what-it-is-for-better-or-worse sort of way.

Just a few minor complaints with the book: There were a few typos, though nothing major. There was also one part of the story where she contradicts herself. Speaking of a girl who was sexually abused and drew a picture of what happened, she says at one point she "continued to draw graphic pictures of her sexual abuse" on p. 102, and then later on p. 141 that she "never drew another picture [after the first one] that I was aware of". Due to the nature of the book, and the fact that some of the people portrayed are actually composites of multiple individuals to protect the identity of various people, I get that the details may be easy to confuse. I just wish an editor had caught it, as it does make one wonder just how much of the story is "real", and how much seems maybe more dramatic than real life actually was, due to the compilation of individuals' stories.

Overall, though, I loved it and would recommend it to anyone interested in hearing about foster care!… (meer)

Kathy's Harrison's memoir of her life as a foster parent to over one hundred children is at times funny, sad, and heart-wrenching, but always completely honest. She is honest about her own failures and weaknesses, about the difficulty in fostering troubled children, about the many shortcomings of the foster care system, and about the tremendous need each child in that system has for a loving, attentive family. She sugarcoats nothing, yet manages to show the reader each sweet, loving, unique child she took in under the labels of "abused," "troubled" and "mentally ill." Selected Reading Questionnaire.… (meer)