I am the author of a nonfiction, paperback novel, Survival of the Fittest...One Child's Life in the Foster Care System. The book is told from a child's point of view of her life in the 1950's foster care system. I had a wonderful foster mom, Louise Brown (I can't find her now) who loved me like I was her own. She asked to adopt me but I was removed from her home at my mother's request. From that point my brother and I (he is now deceased) were bounced from one foster home to another. There I experienced my first sexual contact at 4 years old. My book has had great reviews and I have received many calls from people after reading my story. Yet, foster agencies flee from me. Simply because I tell both sides of the system. I believe my journey is about adoption, loss and survival. Had Louise Brown been allowed to adopt me in 1955, my life would've turned out quite differently. I have wanted an acting career since a very young age. Louise Brown would've done anything to make that dream come true. My mother, through her jealousy, had me removed from a loving environment. From there, I entered the horror of the foster care system at a time when physical and sexual abuse ran rampant. It took me years to tell my story and even more years to forgive my mother. When my brother and I left the system, we were reunited with a mother who was a violent closet alcoholic. We went from one abusive situation to another. I feel that foster children are often best left in a good foster home. I would've been raised in love instead of rage. I can't ever have a real relationship with my birth mom. Yet, after writing my book, I can at least let go of the rage and love her for who she is with all of her flaws. I now enjoy a pretty good acting career, after all. Thank you for listening.
Lauretta Ali
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