“Those were the first nights that we actually cried ourselves to sleep. We had family and we thought we could trust these people, and now we’re being put in foster care. It just didn’t make sense to us. And no matter what they said, it didn’t make it better. So, we just said, well, here we go. And at least we have each other.” — Katherin Bellew, former foster care child
Trauma, Turmoil and Recovery: Surviving Foster Care, profiles survivors of foster care, including two sisters who last year graduated from Smith College and Virginia Polytechnic, respectively.
Their father was a drug addict who was incapable of caring for them after their mother ran off with a lover. After their parents abandoned them, the two girls were taken in by an aunt. Overwhelmed by her own life, she eventually put them into foster care and then committed suicide. Despite the upheaval and hardship, both sisters persevered and are doing well.
We also look at two brothers whose mother was murdered by their own father outside a shopping mall. Even though traumatized, the brothers have thrived. One is studying and working in London. The other is a teacher and a basketball coach. The program also addresses some of the larger questions raised by foster care.
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Allison Bellew talks about why she and her sister were able to go so much farther than the typical kid who ages out of foster care.
Katharine Bellew talks about her life in Hawaii with her sisters and mother before she was thrown into foster care.