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A review by sarahannkateri
Three Little Words by Ashley Rhodes-Courter
3.0
This is not a great book, but at least it tries to do a great thing - to inform people about the plight of kids in the U.S. foster care system & to advocate for those that often have no voice.
Looked at on that level, it succeeds. It would be hard to read this book and not feel sympathy for kids like Ashley who get passed around from "home" to "home," never knowing how long they'll stay, how they'll be treated, or if they'll ever see their birth parents again. It should be impossible not to get angry when the people charged with protecting children fail to follow up on abuse reports over and over again. It could inspire more people to volunteer as CASA/GALs or to become foster parents, which could only be a good thing.
But overall, this is only one girl's memoir, with all the biases and knowledge gaps that suggests, so it doesn't exactly show the complexity of the CPS web. Although they are offhandedly mentioned, there's no real discussion of some very real issues: underfunded county departments, the high turnover rate of burned out caseworkers, maddening bureaucracy, and importantly, the fact that kids in the system often have major issues. Ashley mentions that her brother abused one family's dog and she admits trying to drug her adoptive parents by slipping sleeping pills into their drinks, and these types of acting out behaviors are pretty typical of kids in care. I'm not saying these actions are necessarily the fault of the children or unfixable, but it's a harsh reality that the ones who need help the most are usually the ones it's hardest to help, and all the good intentions in the world sometimes aren't enough.
Three Little Words is a good starting point for people interested in child welfare issues, because it humanizes the CPS processes and has a happy ending, but those who want a comprehensive view of the system will have to look elsewhere. Good for teens who like A Child Called It and those dealing with family issues.
Looked at on that level, it succeeds. It would be hard to read this book and not feel sympathy for kids like Ashley who get passed around from "home" to "home," never knowing how long they'll stay, how they'll be treated, or if they'll ever see their birth parents again. It should be impossible not to get angry when the people charged with protecting children fail to follow up on abuse reports over and over again. It could inspire more people to volunteer as CASA/GALs or to become foster parents, which could only be a good thing.
But overall, this is only one girl's memoir, with all the biases and knowledge gaps that suggests, so it doesn't exactly show the complexity of the CPS web. Although they are offhandedly mentioned, there's no real discussion of some very real issues: underfunded county departments, the high turnover rate of burned out caseworkers, maddening bureaucracy, and importantly, the fact that kids in the system often have major issues. Ashley mentions that her brother abused one family's dog and she admits trying to drug her adoptive parents by slipping sleeping pills into their drinks, and these types of acting out behaviors are pretty typical of kids in care. I'm not saying these actions are necessarily the fault of the children or unfixable, but it's a harsh reality that the ones who need help the most are usually the ones it's hardest to help, and all the good intentions in the world sometimes aren't enough.
Three Little Words is a good starting point for people interested in child welfare issues, because it humanizes the CPS processes and has a happy ending, but those who want a comprehensive view of the system will have to look elsewhere. Good for teens who like A Child Called It and those dealing with family issues.