Kathy Harrison, author of One Small Boat: The Story of a Little Girl,
Lost Then Found, is mother to three biological and
three adopted children and has been a foster mother to more than 120 children
in the 15+ years she and her husband, Bruce, have served as foster parents in
their small Massachusetts community. In
1996 they were named Massachusetts Foster Parents of the Year and in 2002 they
received an award honoring those with a spirit of dedication and commitment to
foster parenting and advocacy efforts, the Goldie Rogers Award. Kathy is also a
member of the board of the National Foster Parent Association and the
Massachusetts State Foster Parent Association.
Harrison’s book depicts a foster family who
are passionately involved and committed to helping children who have lost so
much in their young lives. The main focus of this book is on one of the little
girls whom Harrison almost turned away because she seemed too damaged for her
and her family to deal with. Daisy, a six year with a long list of issues ranging
from suspected sexual abuse and eating disorder to limited language skills, was
an emergency placement for the weekend because her mother did not feel
comfortable taking her home after the girl was hospitalized for the second time.
Throughout the time she spent in the Harrison home (over a year), she overcame
the majority of the problems that had made her life with her mother difficult. She
not only learned a lot from her foster family but she taught them about a lot
as well.
This story shows the immense strength that is
necessary to be a foster parent because not only do they deal with a widespread
array of issues among the children they are entrusted to care for but they must
also say goodbye to them when they find a more permanent home. Daisy was one of
a handful of children who spent a longer period of time in the Harrison
household and as a result she bonded with the family; she had parents and siblings
and though the adults and older kids knew it was temporary, that cannot prevent
bonds from being formed over time. The love and stability the children need and
that the Harrison family provides for the children from the foster care system they
care for, are not things that everyone is capable of dealing with, nor is it
something every family is capable of handling.
After reading this book, I gained a better
understanding of the foster care system and though I do recommend that those
interested in it read it, there were a few ethical questions that came up. The
first was whether it is ethical to remove a child earlier in their life to
protect them even though there may be a chance that the parents can figure out
their lives and figure out how to be good parents. It is important to keep
families together but is it ethical to risk a child’s well-being just for that
reason? The other ethical concern I had was related to the placement of
children in longer-term but not permanent foster homes. It seems unfair that
children who had everything taken from them are placed in a home where they
receive love and acceptance and after more bonds are formed, they are yet
again, taken away from another family. I feel that this may result in the
undoing of whatever progress was made in that child’s life.
Overall, I did greatly enjoy this book and it
made me even more interested in finding out more about the foster care system.
-- Lindsey E. --
Lindsey, thank you for sharing a little bit about your book report and your insights. I, too, read a book about the foster care system that raised some new ethical questions for me. My book, however, does not seem as happy as yours. Mine was about the negative aspects of foster care—how it usually doesn’t prepare kids for the real world when they age out of the system at 18, unless they get lucky. I think one topic that would be really interesting to research would be how foster families are chosen. Is it something they just sign up for or do they have to meet a set of requirements and go through a process, because not all foster families provide an environment like the Harrison’s did. Going off of that, I raised a similar question to one of yours—about children being placed in these loving foster families and then having them removed again. I understand that the foster families want to touch as many young lives as possible, but wouldn’t it be better for the child to be adopted by a loving family? Why aren’t these foster families interested in adopting a child that they have surely made a connection with throughout his/her time in their household? This could be another research topic—it may be hard to find information on, but it would definitely be interesting to look into. Thanks again for sharing!
ReplyDelete-Meggan S.
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