THREE MORE WORDS

This memoir serves as a sequel to the author’s Three Little Words (2008), which chronicled her experiences as a foster child in Florida. Now, she writes of her experiences as a foster parent.

Rhodes-Courter survived horrendous experiences as a foster child, finally finding refuge with new adoptive parents. College high jinks give way to marriage to Erick, who sticks with her for years as she finally learns she can accept the love and stability he offers her. After her marriage, she struggles with weight problems common to ex-foster children, completes a college degree, and becomes a motivational speaker on child-welfare issues. She and Erick decide to become foster parents themselves, and she describes a series of children they take into their home. These children are in serious need of the love and attention the author and her husband give them. Nevertheless, they must deal with the Florida foster-care system, which the author declares may be even worse than when she was trapped in it as a child. The book bogs down a bit in the earlier segments, when the author writes about her own struggles, but picks up speed with her vivid descriptions of her experiences with her foster children.

Uneven but sometimes highly interesting, it serves as a window onto the foster-care system. (Memoir. 12 & up)