Writer Cris Beam’s new book, “To The End of June: Stories from Foster Care” offers in-depth stories of foster children and foster parents. Beam, a foster parent, spent several years with foster families, social workers, former foster children and other professionals who work with foster children.
In an interview with Publisher’s Weekly, Beam states,
We have many studies about foster kids, but almost none about foster parents. Some are fantastic. The parents who talked to me, who come to group trainings, are the better ones. But I heard complaints from foster kids: “They locked me in the basement,” “They stepped on my hands,”
[accounts of] molestation. Surveys reveal incredible abuse. Many foster parents are just okay.Beam has an MFA and teaches at Columbia University, New York University and at Bayview Women’s Correctional Facility. For more on Beam, click here for her website.
To read an interview with Salon’s Laura Miller, click here.
You can also listen to Beam talk with WNYC station in New York abouther book.