May you always feel at home.
After deciding not to have a biological child, Sarah Sentilles and her husband, Eric, try to adopt a baby through foster care. Knowing that the system aims for reunification with the birth family, they open their home to a flurry of social workers who question, evaluate, and prepare them to welcome a child into their lives – even if it most likely means giving that child up.
After years of starts and stops, the phone call finally comes: a three-day-old baby girl, Coco, in urgent need of a foster family. Sarah and Eric bring this newborn stranger home.
‘You were never ours,’ Sarah tells her, ‘yet we belong to each other.’
A love letter to Coco and to the countless others like her, Stranger Care shares Sarah’s discovery of what it means to mother: in this case, not just a vulnerable infant, but also the birth mother who loves the child too. Coco’s story is a reminder that we depend on family, and that family can take many different forms.
Sarah Sentilles, American author of the acclaimed Draw Your Weapons, brings her powerful prose and fearless compassion to an intimate subject with universal concerns: What does it mean to mother? How can we care for and protect one another? And how do we ensure a better future for life on this planet?
Stranger Care is a raw, gut-wrenching read, about an incredibly important subject. Sentilles has crafted a memoir that will leave many heartbroken through its honest, deeply personal and moving story of the intricacies of the US foster care system.
While Stranger Care is a memoir, Sentilles’ prose is page-turning. She incorporates dialogue and narration that describes her innermost emotions as she and her husband went through the process of fostering a child. Sentilles integrates brief chapters about animals mothering their young, the history of foster care, the changing environment we live in, and musings on motherhood. These segments enhance Sentilles’ memoir into a beautifully constructed piece of creative nonfiction.
Stranger Care deals with many confronting themes, including cases of child neglect, drug and alcohol abuse, and domestic violence. Through examining these sensitive topics, Sentilles unveils issues prevalent within the foster care system. Yet, at the heart of the memoir is her plea for us to care for and love all children, no matter the circumstances of their birth or upbringing. Her powerful musings on loss, grief, anger, jealousy, and trust are stunningly written and will be relatable to many readers.
This is not just a book for those who have children in their lives or want children. Stranger Care poignantly touches on so many innate human emotions. I think readers will be blown away by Sarah Sentilles’ heart-wrenching, gripping memoir, and feel her emotions bleed through the pages – just like I did.
Leave a Reply