That your fiance took out the loan against your advice and then blew it, like you knew he would, might be an indication that you guys have some stuff to work on before you get hitched. Or not. I'm not trying to rain on your parade, but marriage is hard, it helps to hash out as many pre-existing issues as you can…

I am sorry for your pain.

Lady, you're singing my song. 7 year old, death glare, he's great for others, was adopted, my mom being an abusive mess...all of it. Hang in there.

I'm mom to 'that kid'*, and it brings tears to my eyes to read that teachers value him and see beyond the quirks. Seriously, thank you.

Yay for young Public Radio superfans! My son is 7 and he is obsessed with Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me! and Ask Me Another. The kid does a fine Carl Kasell impression. We got him some superhero toys this holiday season in an effort to make his elementary school social life a tiny bit less excruciating. Then he made…

Thanks. Honestly, it's a privilege to be able to do it.

Most kids have court-ordered visitation with parents at least weekly. My last placement had 2 visits/week. I don't know if Campbell would show, but even if he doesn't, the kid is still getting pulled out of their routine by being picked up and transported to a visitation location, waiting, then be returned to their…

You know, as I was hitting enter I thought 'nah, more like the gas station store that sells cigarettes.' Should have followed my gut on that one.

Based on experience with the area, I'm going to guess the parking lot of the local 7-11. 7-11's closest competitor, Quick Chek, is waaay too swanky to be the backdrop to this romance.

The issue wasn't his neo Nazi beliefs, it was documented abuse, neglect & domestic violence. Also, Eva's mom has one child in the care of the state of PA already. Sure, he's an ass, but the real issue is keeping his children safe.

Yup, at least 3 or 4 of his kids are in state care in NJ. We don't want to claim him, but he's ours. When the press discovered that his latest GF was expecting, he announced that she would be sent out of state to deliver the baby, so NJ Child Services couldn't take it. Ms. Zito crossed the river to PA, delivered a…

If they are adopted, names can be changed at the time of adoption. Until then, foster parents are going to have to use nicknames to give those kids a modicum of privacy.

The foster parents almost have to come up with nicknames in order to afford those kids (and the rest of the foster family) any privacy. You need to call them something, but if you're walking around Shoprite calling for Adolf & Heinrich to stop running, people who are local to the story are going to figure it out ASAP.…

I'm a local (to this dumbass) foster parent and I literally just read this and put my finger to my nose in the universal sign of 'oooh, NOT IT!', because every kid deserves a safe home, but no, I would not take this placement for a ZILLION dollars. I am scrupulously kind to the birth parents of the kids in my care,…

Yes! We visited Boston recently and stayed in one of the suburbs west of the city. I was shocked at how few people of color we saw - our 2 mixed race kiddos were almost only the only non-white faces in a restaurant. I went to school in that area and don't remember (or more likely, didn't notice) how freaking white it…

Nothing to Envy was hard for that very reason - the part where it describes the teacher who could see her students fading away from hunger, then they would just stop showing up and she'd knew they were dead. Also, as you said, the descriptions of the bodies in the streets. I read the book in one night (yes! it's that…

My all-girls high school did this too. Dad & I never went, because we're both extreme introverts who would rather spend our Saturday night watching PBS than doing the bunny hop. #2ndgenerationnerd

When our kiddo joined our family, which had been entirely white up until that point, we had absolutely no info on his background. He was (and still is) wicked adorable, so random strangers would come up to us and ask 'what is he?' and fuck, we were so tired and loopy from having a 2 year old dropped into our world…

Whoa, half-breed. That's a conversation stopper. Do you ask them if they know they just said half-breed?

That makes my heart hurt for you. My son, who was adopted, is mixed race. His birth mom is white, his birth dad is black.