If you've read the Insomni-Mommy for any length of time, you have probably figured out that I love orphans. Like heartbreakingly, can't stop thinking about them, LOVE orphans. In my life, this love has led me to become a licensed foster parent, to adopt my son, to recently speak with a group of college students about my experiences. So I was excited when Christina Baker Kline's novel "Orphan Train" came into my possession via my sister. The title was enough to draw me in, and the book did not disappoint.
Sometimes I feel like the best representations of actual orphan care are found in novels like this one. As I read the dual narratives of Niamh in 1928 and Molly in 2011, I was struck repeatedly by the truth and authenticity of their experiences. Not only does this novel capture the orphan experience, but it also displays how our society has changed its treatment of orphans and its attempts to "solve" the problem of abandoned children over the course of the last 100 years. Additionally, these stories do not shy away from the difficulties of bonding and moving forward after losing one's family. It is a very real issue in orphan care today, just as it was in the past, that children find familial bonds challenging when they have suffered such a tremendous loss. I applaud the author for thorough research as well as putting it all into words so beautifully and creating this compelling work of fiction.
I also just finished a work of non-fiction called "Orphans of the Living" by Jennifer Toth. It makes a terrific companion to "Orphan Train", telling the stories of five youths living and emancipating from foster care in the 80's and 90's. Toth holds an unflinching microscope up to an imperfect system (one that has thankfully seen some reform thanks to President Clinton, but could still use more) and gives a voice to a population that is sadly voiceless. Much of what Toth writes about the emotional lives of these children convenes with what I have witnessed as a foster parent, and it makes me both sad and angry that these children's needs are so often unmet. A common refrain while reading this book could be, "What is WRONG with people?!" But it is that reality which drove my husband and myself to stand up for orphans, to step in to the gap they are falling through, to resolve to be safe caregivers for all the children who pass through our home.
