Rosemarie Gerstner

This story of a girl who loses her home base in the form of her Mother and is placed in a home for girls made made me re-appreciate my foster sister who lived in an an institution for 8 years before coming to live with my family as a teen. Though the details of their stories are different, both girls were left to fend in unfriendly and often impersonal circumstances without the support of a parent or loved one. Left without the encouragement and daily support of their families, it's easy for them to buy into the low expectations that many of their elders express for their futures. Despite these low expectations, in the writer's case two caring people rekindled hope and helped her find her way; likewise my sister became a part of our family and had the loving support of my parents and siblings to launch into adulthood. It takes a great deal of resiliency and faith for a child to endure and succeed in an institutional environment and yet, the writer (and my sister) did so. It's an honest story that describes overcoming daunting obstacles and eventually finding the help of caring people who offered the love and guidance every child deserves.