I ended my previous post about Andrew Bridge by stating that his mom had, in spite of her mental illness, managed to instill in Andrew a hope for future possibilities. She clearly did some things right. Andrew agreed, for he had this to say:

There had to have been love and attachment in those early years. I did things I see other kids who grew up in foster care struggling so hard to do and not getting. In my heart of hearts, I know there were things... more

Continuing with my series on my recent interview with Andrew Bridge and my discussion of his about-to-be-released book, Hope’s Boy, I asked Andrew about one quote from his book that leapt off the page at me …

With only a bit more from Mrs. Leonard (his foster mom), I might have claimed her as my own. I might have surrendered Hope entirely.

(Hope is the name of Andrew's birthmother.) Andrew spent ten years in a foster home where he was always “the outsider”. He... more

I didn’t get this written in a very timely fashion today because I spent most of the morning on the telephone. For 90 minutes I spoke with Andrew Bridge, author of Hope’s Boy. Before making my next telephone appointment, I paid the guy who brought me more firewood and dealt with the fitness tech who (partially) repaired our treadmill. (It doesn’t elevate now … oh darn. I never liked that anyway!) My next phone call was with Jeff Katz, the driving force behind Listening to... more

Today I would like to continue with my discussion about Listening to Parents, the report and website designed to address the disconnect between parents wanting to adopt children in foster care and the agencies responsible for finding families for those children. Nancy Deren, one of my blog readers, commented on the report. Her experience... more

I spent the weekend reading Andrew Bridge’s book, Hope’s Boy, while hanging out in the crash area at Beth’s 3-day swim meet. (She had a great meet, by the way!) I will be blogging my review of Andrew’s book later this week, and I will hopefully include excerpts from my phone conversation with him, scheduled for a couple of days from now. It’s a great book and raised some interesting questions for me. I am anxious to hear Andrew’s responses.

Flooding my inbox from various listserves and newsletters that I regularly... more

I have received several phone calls or emails this past few days, from parents reading this blog, posting on ATN’s various listserves, or referred to me by individuals. The common theme in their questions for me centers on “Will he heal? Is there hope?”

One dad said, “Life is no fun … all we do is exist. He eats, sleeps and poops—nothing else.” This dad continued his post by describing all the attempts he and his wife have made to engage his son in life. Music lessons, sports, peer-attended social outings, etc. His son is inappropriate, passive-aggressive, disinterested... more

It has been an insane day thus far. Dora awoke in a foul mood (come to think about it, she went to bed that way, too!); Beth is exhausted from a really tough swim practice last night, and therefore quite grumpy; Best Buy canceled my umpteenth repair on my washing machine and rescheduled for Friday (the washer is now working, but the “new” drain pump they installed vibrates something fierce, so they are going to replace it again—and this makes me grumpy!); and lastly I spent time on the phone this morning with a majorly stressed out mom.

The tearful mom is a local gal,... more

One reader’s poignant response to yesterday’s blog about “Golden Nuggets” was:

Without hope, what do we have?

Hope really is the crux of it all, isn’t it? What do we have without hope? If we give up hope that our lives and the behavior and lives of our children will improve, how are we to survive?

... more

Even though this is a three-day weekend, today being MLK day, I haven’t had a chance to crack Andrew Bridge’s new book, Hope’s Boy. I took Beth and her friend roller-skating today and managed to burn about 600 calories myself. The dogs didn't care that I already had my exercise, so we walked our usual two miles when I returned home. I’m tired! Kyle and Marie had dinner with us both Saturday and Sunday evening, and of course, there was food preparation to do. Another 4-5 hours on my chaotic basement went a long way towards restoring order,... more

In this blog, I wrote about Andrew Bridge, a former foster child who became an attorney and now advocates on behalf of foster children and kids in the system. Andrew has made it his mission to address the deficiencies in how America approaches its troubled children—a passion I share. I indicated in my previous blog that I was looking for him; therefore, I was pleased to receive an email from him a couple of days ago. Apparently, he reads the blog! (In my Googling to find contact info... more