John DeGarmo has established himself as an expert on foster care and adoption, yet he calls foster parenting the hardest thing he's ever done. Any foster parent I've ever known or read about would whole-heartedly agree with DeGarmo's assessment. In Love and Mayhem: One Big Family's Uplifting Story of Fostering and Adoption, DeGarmo tells stories from the front lines, as his family has fostered dozens of children through the years.
On one level, DeGarmo's experience might discourage potential foster parents from entering the fray. Foster parenting can be full of heartbreak. Some of the worst examples of humanity can be found in the environments from which foster children are removed. DeGarmo does not gloss over the pain and ugliness of fostering.
Yet the love and healing that foster children can find in families like the DeGarmos is crucial and undeniable. DeGarmo describes the rewards and satisfaction of fostering in spite of the pain. Even in their little town in rural Georgia, the needs are great; the DeGarmos received more calls than they could handle for children in need. Would that more families followed the DeGarmos's example and took up the mantle of fostering in cities across the country.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!
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