Finished March 30
Hope's Boy by Andrew Bridge
This memoir is from the former CEO/General Counsel of The Alliance for Children's Rights. Bridge was born into poverty, and lived first with his grandmother and then with his mother in extreme poverty. When his mother began to struggle with mental health issues, he was removed from her and placed first in institutional care, and then in foster care. His story as he learns to survive in all his environments shows how he clung to the love he was offered by his mother and grandmother through all the difficult years that followed. From the descriptions of how the social system failed his family, and how many of the people around them showed no concern, this memoir is open and honest. Bridge was not a perfect child, and he doesn't claim that he was, but he shows how he learned the system and did what he had to in order to get out of that system.
I am really curious about this book and was glad to see your review of it, Shonna. Unfortunately, his story is not a new one--so many children get stuck in the system and tossed around. However, so many of us who work in the system are trying to make a difference. We do care quite a lot, in fact.
ReplyDeleteI knew many foster kids growing up, and luckily they seemed to be in better situations than that described here.
ReplyDeleteI also have two adopted siblings, so that is one of the things that drew me to read this.