Leta Gail Doerr on National Foster Care Awareness Month
Today marks the start of National Foster Care Awareness Month, so Leta Gail Doerr joins us to share the role the foster care system plays in her Bluegrass Country Series, including her new release and book three, For the Love of Justice.
Leta: HOME. One word can change everything.
Over half a million kids navigate the foster care system in the United States each year. This is roughly the equivalent to the entire population of people who call the state of Wyoming home.
For kids in the foster care system, the word "home" can conjure myriad feelings and images. Happy. Sad. Tragic. For each child, their story may be different. For many, home may be a distant memory — if they have any recollection at all.
The concept of "home" can be lost in a culture of what being a kid in the foster care system means. An all-too-often transient life of multiple placements away from friends, family and places that are familiar to them is common. Although the justice system and child welfare advocates strive to keep children and families together, sometimes preserving a family simply is not possible.
Although the characters in The Bluegrass Country Series are fictional, their lives and experiences are akin to those of children who are part of the child welfare system. In book one, For the Love of Big Orange, we meet Lacie Joe Jenson, a twentysomething previous ward of the state who found "home" in her teen years when she appeared before Judge Rudy in a courthouse in Kentucky. Lacie had run away from the last in a string of a dozen foster care homes she had been in and out of since the age of 6. Judge and his wife, Stella, saw fit to provide a caring home for the troubled Lacie Joe, by welcoming her into their majestic ranch set in the foothills of Lexington and immersing her in the rural way of life. Lacie Joe and Judge formed a common bond as they worked together to rebuild an old pickup, affectionately known as "Big Orange." Lacie's story is told in first person, so we get to experience her struggles and inability to make emotional connections right along with her.
Later, a tragic accident forces Lacie Joe to leave the one place she has finally made her home — abandoning her foster family, friends and a fiancé. Lacie Joe becomes estranged from those who were familiar to her and finds herself in a dire situation — will she be the victim or victor? With years of therapy and an inner drive to overcome, Lacie Joe successfully completes a college program and earns a degree in social work — a field in which she believes she can truly do the most good by giving back to a system all that she had taken. Lacie Joe creates a program for at-risk teens who age-out of the system. A common plight, in that teens who age-out often find themselves battling addiction, homelessness and perhaps criminal behaviors. It's here that we meet Emma, an 18-year-old participant in The Bluegrass Connection program. Emma presents as a rough and tumble teen on the exterior who is scared and alone on the inside. Only through her participation in The Bluegrass Connection do we discover who Emma Jackson truly is, as she realizes the beautiful and confident person she is capable of becoming.
In book two, For the Love of Mercy, the story advances to alternating perspectives of Mercy Lynn Callaway and Tyson "Jax" Ridgeton, both 19 years old. The two meet in a sleepy roadside diner in rural Kentucky after Jax runs away from his home in Illinois in search of his sister, who he was separated from when he was adopted at the age of 3. He learns that his adoptive parents chose to keep the fact that he had a sibling from him, and that she was "lost in the system" after they provided foster care to young Tyson and later adopted him.
Emma's story rounds out the series with book three, For the Love of Justice, by pulling the main characters together in the finale. Relationships are tested. Sealed case files are challenged and secrets are revealed. All of which is made possible by advocates of children and families in the foster care system who ascribe to the fundamental belief that everyone has a right to their own story.
Each May the child welfare circles celebrate National Foster Care Awareness Month. During this time we make a point of showcasing the caseworkers, foster families and children who strive to succeed in the foster care system. There are many ways to help and celebrate the life of a child who is part of the system. One of the easiest is by granting a child's wish. Each wish consists of a monetary donation (for as little as $10) toward a tangible gift that a child who is living in the foster care system has requested. To find out more, check out www.onesimplewish.org.
Find out more about Leta and her books at her website.