Saving Michael: How Rescuing a "Throwaway" Child Turned Me into a Foster-Care Advocate

by Keri Vellis

Describes what being a foster mom is really like, the effects of foster care on the whole family, and how the foster care system fails severely abused children. Foster children are society’s throwaway kids, the children no one wants—until someone finally does. Saving Michael provides an inside look into Keri Vellis’ struggle to secure the best possible services for two severely abused and traumatized siblings. Some doors opened, but too many closed during her ten-year journey as the voice for children in her care who have no voice of their own within the current system. Readers get a glimpse of Keri and her family’s day-to-day life as she went from mother of three to adoptive mother of three more children and then the temporary caregiver of another seventeen. Saving Michael delves into issues bigger than one family’s experiences and determination. Now an author and child advocate, Vellis provides a profoundly personal look into what it takes to get the best for each of the children she’s had in her care. Her journey started from the first day of her first foster care situation and the urgent need for diagnoses and treatment. It continued despite the many obstacles thrown in her path to securing services for the vulnerable children in her family’s care. Along the way, she details the many ups and downs, challenges and triumphs, her whole family experienced as part of the foster care system. All children deserve permanent, safe homes. The effort to obtain those for every child is a tremendous one not for the faint-hearted. But the rewards reverberate for everyone when it works. Follow Keri and her family on this heartfelt journey of love and persistence.

222 pages, Hardcover

Published April 28, 2023

About the author

Keri Vellis is a foster mom and president and founder of Keri’s Kids, a non-profit that distributes empowering and comforting books to foster care children and children at-risk or suffering from abuse. She is the proud author of two children’s books for foster care kids, “Sometimes” and “When I Was Little,” and is currently working on her third book, an autobiography that offers foster care parents much-needed guidance and resources to navigate the foster care system.

Keri has appeared on several television networks including Fox, CBS, and ABC and is the proud recipient of the “Ellen” TV show’s “One Million Acts of Good” endowment which helped her distribute many books to kids in need. To learn more and to donate, visit her website at www.keriskids.net

Reviews

[Kasia Hubbard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raw, honest, does not sugar coat situations and not afraid to show the ugly truth of the foster care system, from the side of the foster family and the real life cost and toll it takes on a family who is only trying to help. But the reality is that the system isn't set up to really help "foster" the realities of the children that come through the system. Real life trauma, real world issues, real mental health, and severely broken children that should be the focal point of the "care" and end up being victimized all over again because of hoops of rules that have to be followed, the cycle of people in charge of the child that continuously changes, the standards that are obviously not firmly in placed (dependent on who is in charge and whether or not they're up to date in their training or even what their focal point is - child placement in a family ASAP). Point blank, it's a horrible system, and while we have true warriors out there advocating for these children, it's sad that so little is being done to actually help them immediately where they are. A powerful book that is insightfully honest and yet still a great resource for those thinking of, or who are currently advocating for, the children.
*I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. This review is my own opinion*

[Kasia Hubbard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raw, honest, does not sugar coat situations and not afraid to show the ugly truth of the foster care system, from the side of the foster family and the real life cost and toll it takes on a family who is only trying to help. But the reality is that the system isn't set up to really help "foster" the realities of the children that come through the system. Real life trauma, real world issues, real mental health, and severely broken children that should be the focal point of the "care" and end up being victimized all over again because of hoops of rules that have to be followed, the cycle of people in charge of the child that continuously changes, the standards that are obviously not firmly in placed (dependent on who is in charge and whether or not they're up to date in their training or even what their focal point is - child placement in a family ASAP). Point blank, it's a horrible system, and while we have true warriors out there advocating for these children, it's sad that so little is being done to actually help them immediately where they are. A powerful book that is insightfully honest and yet still a great resource for those thinking of, or who are currently advocating for, the children.
*I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. This review is my own opinion*

[Chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Keri Vellis is an inspiration. She details the struggles of foster care and adoption. This book details what fostering truly entails and the hardships it comes with. It is beautiful to know that even though it was the hardest thing she has ever done, she would do it again in a heartbeat.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit repetitive in parts, but kept my interest. An eye-opener, for sure!