By David Alexander
Western Herald
Imagine growing up being called schizophrenic, autistic, or even a delinquent by your caregivers. Then imagine obtaining a Ph.D. from an Ivy League university.
Imagine, after 50 years of working to help improve what your experiences have taught you is a broken foster care system, publishing a book designed to bolster one of the country’s most ambitious educational programs for foster children.
This is precisely what Professor Waln Brown did.
Together with Professor John Seita, founder of Western Michigan University’s Seita Scholars Program—a scholastic program which gives foster children an opportunity to attend college, Brown has published “Growing up in the Care of Strangers: the Experiences, Insights, and Recommendations of Eleven Former Foster Kids”.
The book is entirely written and edited by people who have gone through the foster care system and examines the experiences of 11 former foster kids as told by them. All the writers are college graduates and represent a wide array of diversity. They are male and female, black and white, young and old alike. Six are from Michigan.
Because there is a 40-year difference between the youngest and the oldest writers, its publishers believe the text provides a unique perspective on the development and shortcomings of the foster care system.
The authors experienced things such as abuse, parental death, family dysfunction, and neglect requiring placement in foster care.
“The foster care system is broken. It’s been broken for decades … the people who are making the decisions … are made by people who’ve never had the experience,” Brown said.
He said the book’s first edition has nearly sold out, including 441 copies ordered by the State Supreme Court and 11 by the Michigan Office of Children’s Ombudsman. Additionally, Michigan Chief Justice Maura D. Corrigan distributed the book to family court judges throughout the state.
“If the chief Michigan justice thinks everyone in the foster system care needs to read the book, that’s quite an endorsement,” Brown said.
In its second year of operation, over 100 foster care children have already been a part of the Seita Scholars Program. It is one of largest programs of its kind in the country.
Brown hopes the book will help graduates of the program become involved in helping improve the state foster care system.
“We all wanted to give back, and help the system. We hope the John Seita Scholars use this opportunity to give something back to the foster children who come into the system after them,” he said.
“Seita Scholars come from all over the state, many of whom are from low-income or impoverished homes,” said Yvonne Unrau, Interim Director of the Seita Scholars Program said.
“I think it will open the eyes of those who are not familiar with the foster care system or those growing up in it.
“Growing up in the Care of Strangers: the Experiences, Insights, and Recommendations of Eleven Former Foster Kids” is available now in soft cover at William Gladden Foundation.org or can be found for sale online.
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