I read Ashley Rhodes-Courter’s first memoir, Three Little Words, recently and was horrified and memorized by Ashley’s journey through the Florida foster care system. In her follow up memoir, Three More Words, Ashley shares her experiences on the other side of the foster care system- as a guardian, foster care parent and prospective adoptive family. Ashley begins her book recapping the first and then delves into her college experience; she had some struggles because her public persona made being a “regular” college student difficult, particularly […]
“Your Mother is a hard act to follow. She will always be the love of your life”
Oh, this book is so sad. It has a happy ending, and a good message, and hopefully will spur some change within the foster system, but it still made me so, so sad. “I journeyed alone for almost ten years before I found home. Adoptions are like very delicate gardening with transplants and grafts. Mine took hold, rooted, and bloomed, even though there were inevitable adjustments to the new soil and climate. Yet I have not forgotten where my roots started.” Ashley Rhodes entered foster care […]
“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”
I have had more than a dozen so-called mothers in my life. Lorraine Rhodes gave birth to me. Gay Courter adopted me. Then there are the fillers. Ashley Rhodes-Courter spent nearly a decade in foster care after her mother was deemed unfit by the State to care for her and Ashley’s younger brother, Luke. Ashley bounced around between foster homes from ages three to twelve, sometimes with her brother and sometimes alone. She found some stability with her maternal grandfather’s girlfriend, Adele, but the instability […]