Customer Reviews

Foster Care Odyssey: A Black Girl’s Story (Willie Morris Books in Memoir and Biography)

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This is a heartfelt, painfully true story of how one child can be forgotten in the "system". Even the cover itself is revealing...the only photograph the author has from her childhood and it does not even show her face.

By far my favorite book of alltime. I recommend it to all socialworkers, teachers, counselors, mothers, fathers, ministers, politicians, EVERYONE! It is well-written and easy to read, although it caused me to lose sleep at night knowing children are out there--alone, forgotten by their caseworkers, and lacking the basic needs such as touch, hugs, encouragement, or even a smile from those whose care they are in.

How Ms.Cameron did what she did all alone is beyond me. She is simply amazing.

After reading this book I wanted to reach out and hug Ms. Cameron.
She has made me a better mother.

Theresa Cameron's difficult odyssey began when her biological mother did not make decisions with her daughter's best interests in mind. As difficult as it might have been for the mother to admit that adoption was the best route for her to follow, she simply abandoned a beautiful child and left her at the mercy of an inadequate system. As strong as Ms Cameron obviously is, as an unwilling participant in the foster care system, her childhood was unnecessarily harsh and often cruel. Rarely can we says such a story has meaning in all our lives. I recommend this book for all who face the irreversible decision of creating a child.

I am very touched by the events that the author of this book had to share. She is indeed a very strong person. The average person could not survive the various pitfalls and bouts of discouragement that she had to suffer. She was placed in foster care at very young age. Although she felt bitter, she later discovered that it was better then being with her real mother. This young lady searched and found her mother, by way of the grapevine network within the black community. To her disappointment she did not find a loving mother. She found a discouraging woman living in confusion and poverty.

This was not the stopping point for the young lady in the book. She pushed herself. She even worked and saved her money. With the help of a kind social worker, she was able to go to college. I'm so proud of her.

The foster care system, is often one void of real love. As a parent and one who loves children, I take the care of children personally. Any child placed in my home for whatever reason is my child. I feel like it's up to me to love and protect that child. The elements of life are harsh enough. Children have day to day challanges just like adults. Foster parents your young charges need you. You are their guardians. LOVE THEM, PROTECT THEM, TREAT THEM LIKE YOUR OWN CHILDREN.

I was a bit surprised to find out how racially bias Buffalo, New York was. But the wonderful, wonderful thing is the good and positive life that the writer of this book is reaping. Hats Off to her. Keep On Pushing!

While I did enjoy this book, I found myself feeling irritated at the author's whining rather than feeling sorry for her or frustrated by an 'uncaring system' or 'institutionalized racism.' I saw an account of a young girl who was in the hands of a system that was, all things considered, doing the best it could, while she herself was determined to fight that system's attempts to provide her with a secure home and basic material needs and yes, some affection. Far from being 'shuttled from home to home' endlessly, Theresa spent 7 years in one foster home, and left that home only because SHE got into a fight with her foster mother and demanded to leave. She wrote repeatedly about her unwillingness to develop friendships or ties, yet it was that unwillingness to do so that made her life that much more miserable. Her attitudes towards each of her homes and placements seemed to depend on her emotional state at the time rather than the particular behavior of the caregivers. (She adored the nuns who took her in when she was kicked out of Franny's house ... but was bitter towards the nuns who ran the group home. She shut herself away from some case workers and social workers who truly tried to help, and then embraced OTHER case workers and social workers who truly tried to help.) I have to feel that clinical depression and/or simple teenage angst, NOT foster care was at the heart of many of her problems and struggles.

A few odd typos and/or inconsistancies in writing also irritated. (She was 13 in one paragraph, and 15 in the next.)

This book reveals the emotional impact of life in the foster care system for a black girl who was bounced from one foster home to another from birth until the age of 18. Except for the nationally publicized case of Baby Jessica, who was forcibly removed from her adoptive family at the age of two to be reunited with her birth mother and father, it is rare that the public gets a glimpse of the emotional damage done to the child. This book should be MUST reading for everyone involved in foster care.