To the End of June: The Intimate Life of American Foster Care - Cris Beam

A New York Times Notable Book Casts a searing eye on the labyrinth that is the American foster care system. -- NPR's On Point Who are the children of foster care? What, as a country, do we owe them? Cris Beam, a foster mother herself, spent five years immersed in the world of foster care looking into these questions and tracing firsthand stories. The result is To the End of June , an unforgettable portrait that takes us deep inside the lives of foster children in their search for a stable, loving family. Beam shows us the intricacies of growing up in the system--the back-and-forth with agencies, the rootless shuffling between homes, the emotionally charged tug between foster and birth parents, the terrifying push out of foster care and into adulthood. Humanizing and challenging a broken system, To the End of June offers a tribute to resiliency and hope for real change. A] powerful . . . and refreshing read. -- Chicago Tribune A sharp critique of foster-care policies and a searching exploration of the meaning of family. -- Publishers Weekly , starred review Heart-rending and tentatively hopeful. -- Salon