a foster story
I came across this story in the Washington Post today. It’s about Marie Willis, “one of the approximately 24,000 young people nationwide ages 18 to 21 who leave foster care each year, children who were never adopted or returned to their parents or guardians.”
By the time the siblings were placed in the Shenandoah Valley foster home of Ray and Shirley Caplinger, they had been shuttled from Fairfax to a few group homes in Winchester and finally to Harrisonburg.
But Willis, who stayed with the Caplingers for 13 years, was lucky. Her older sister, Cassandra, moved from home to home before leaving the system voluntarily at 18; her younger sister, who has Down syndrome, was placed with another family. Bonner said the stability of life with the Caplingers helped Willis; most children who are in foster care for that long live with multiple families.
Brent Finnegan -- May 8th, 2008