Three Little Words: a memoir by Ashley Rhodes-Courter (2009-2010)
Taken from her irresponsible mother when she is 4 years old, Ashley spends the next nine years in Florida's foster care system where she is shuffled between 13 state facilities and foster homes, some of which are horrifyingly abusive, before being adopted by a loving family.
Ashley Rhodes-Carter’s memoir, Three Little Words, really moved and touched me in a beautiful way. Through reading this book, I was welcomed into the life of a young child going through so much pain and suffering. The undying, unconditional love that she had for her mother who made so many broken promises I shared for my mother as well. As humans we all make mistakes, unfortunately, this means that we will hurt the ones we care for even if we don’t have the intention to. My mother makes many broken promises, although not as many as Ashley’s mother, but my love for her remains forever and Ashley had this love for her mother as well. This little girl was taken from her mother and thrown into the foster care system, jumping from family to family along with her little brother. Her homes changed constantly and her heart grew a bit cold when families sent her back to the foster care system to be jumped from place to place once more. What I would like to ask Ashley is how she made her heart love again when everyone else had treated her so coldly? In addition to that question, I would ask her how she learned to live without the mother that she loved so dearly? When she was younger, her mother would promise that she would get her and her brother to be a happy family again and Ashley has now come to realize that it would never happen and I just wondered how she learned to live without the woman who she cared for and loved so much. I recommend this warm-hearted little story to people who would like to be informed of the foster care system from a person who experienced it from the inside. (C.Y.T., 10th grade, ATC)
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