A great read detailing one girl's experience growing up in the Florida foster care system.

I liked that Rhodes-Courter wrote what she was thinking and feeling as a child, rather than only reflecting back with "adult understanding" - I think it helps readers better understand what kids in care actually experience.

There is some language (in dialogue) and a few sexual references (depicting what she was exposed to as a child).

Though the foster care system has improved some since Rhodes-Courter was in it, there are so many more improvements needed, and I found this book motivating!

"Although [our mother] submitted applications for food stamps and aid for dependent children, the welfare officials told her that she was ineligible because her children were no longer living with her. When she tried to get us back, the caseworker said she had to be able to provide food for us.... We were now state property. Our legal guardian was the executive branch of the Florida government, an entity that would rather pay strangers to care for us than offer any economic help to my mother to care for her own children." (p 15-16) ( )

This incredibly emotional memoir was tough to read, but also very inspiring. Ashley Rhodes-Courter relates her life story as a child in the foster care system. I have not had a very good perception of our current system for handling the needs of children who are failed by their biological parents, and this book sadly reinforced my views. However, the strength of Rhodes-Courter really comes through as well and saves the story from just being completely dark and depressing.

An extraordinary tale that makes me want to become a volunteer Court Appointed Special Advocate . . .somehow, we, as a society, need to do better for these innocent children who are blameless and yet suffering for the faults of others.

Finished this one in a day because I couldn't stop reading it . . . ( )

"Sunshine, you're my baby and I'm your only mother. You must mind the one taking care of you, but she's not your mama." Ashley Rhodes-Courter spent nine years of her life in fourteen different foster homes, living by those words. As her mother spirals out of control, Ashley is left clinging to an unpredictable, dissolving relationship, all the while getting pulled deeper and deeper into the foster care system. Painful memories of being taken away from her home quickly become consumed by real-life horrors, where Ashley is juggled between caseworkers, shuffled from school to school, and forced to endure manipulative, humiliating treatment from a very abusive foster family. In this inspiring, unforgettable memoir, Ashley finds the courage to succeed - and in doing so, discovers the power of her own voice. Selected Reading Questionnaire.

The book, published in 2009, tells the story of how Ashley survived in Florida’s foster care system. Eventually she was adopted by a family with two adult sons, and she began a battle through the courts to seek justice and help for other foster children.

Painful memories of being taken away from her home quickly become consumed by real-life horrors, where Ashley is juggled between caseworkers, shuffled from school to school, and forced to endure manipulative, humiliating treatment from a very abusive foster family. In this inspiring, unforgettable memoir, Ashley finds the courage to succeed – and in doing so, discovers the power of her own voice.
Ashley Rhodes-Courter’s book is a treasure to foster children and to a system that needs fixing so badly. Every person who reads this book will feel a desire to advocate for these kids and to see the system change. As a teen, Ashley herself sees the movie Erin Brockovich and decides that she will be like Erin and stand up for what’s right. She will help other children who are enmeshed in the foster care system. Today she is a public speaker on this issue and a foster mother.
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The author recounts her harrowing years of growing up in fos- ter and group homes, the abuses she suffered, her mother’s termination of parental rights, and finally being adopted as an adolescent. Note to Reader, Photos of the Author.