by Casey Watson
First published 2012
Casey Watson opens her door to find Ashton and Olivia, two children no other foster family would accept. Nine-year-old Ashton and six-year-old Olivia arrive covered in lice and scabs, their small bodies bearing witness to neglect. Social services removed them and their three younger siblings from their birth family due to safety concerns. What begins as an emergency placement stretches from days into weeks, then months. Casey watches the children slowly shed their fear as they learn what family meals and bedtime stories feel like. Ashton becomes protective of his little sister while Olivia starts speaking in full sentences instead of whispers. As trust builds between them, the children begin sharing fragments of their past that explain why they flinch at sudden movements and hoard food under their beds. Casey realizes these two small survivors have taught her family as much about resilience as she has taught them about love.
Genres: family-life, social-issues, non-fiction, biography-memoir, parenting, foster-children, adoption, foster-parents
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family
304 pages · Kindle Edition · HarperCollins Publishers
Content warnings: abuse, child-abuse