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When her mother is pulled from her home and thrown into the back of a police car, three-and-a-half-year-old Ashley Rhodes and her infant brother, Luke, become wards of the state. “Shuffled like a hand-me-down toy for the next nine years,” this is the grim story of one girl’s lost childhood. It is not written to gain your pity but instead to grab your attention. Ashley Rhodes-Courter uses her own experience to bring much-needed attention to the tens of thousands of children who have been forgotten and currently reside somewhere amidst the U.S. foster care system. In her memoir, Three Little Words, these children are given a voice.
As the foster care system failed to issue legal documents, properly screen placement families, and even “lost” track of Ashley for a time, this spunky little girl never gave up. With the help of self-appointed volunteer, Guardian ad Litem Mary Miller, Ashley eventually finds her “forever family” in the caring home of Phil and Gay Courter.
Motivated by the movie Erin Brokovich, fourteen-year-old Ashley spoke out against her most abusive foster parents, Charles and Marjorie Moss, as well as the Department of Children and Families. As a junior in high school, Rhodes-Courter entered an essay contest for The New York Times Magazine. Her essay, of the same name as her book, won first prize. Since then, she has been featured in national magazines such as Teen People, Glamour, and The USA Today. She has done motivational speeches for numerous adoption/foster organizations, and her work has garnered the attention of Hillary Rodham Clinton, Montel Williams, J.K. Rowling and the Today Show. As recent college graduate, Ashley has become one of our country’s prime advocates for adoption and foster care reform.
If you’ve ever considered adoption or foster care, this book is a must read. If you’ve ever been lost in the foster care program, you will identify with Ashley’s struggles and gain insight from her triumphs. Either way, this book, although promoted toward the young adult market, is an exceptional read for anyone who has a heart.
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Three Little Words: A Memoir