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The Quiet You Carry,
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Nikki Barthelmess
That's a great question; thanks so much for asking, Kelly!
I grew up in the Nevada foster care system, living in six different towns in the six years I was in care. I didn't know what foster care was, not really, until I entered the system, and it felt like no one else could possibly understand what I was going through. Even worse, many people judged me, like it was my fault I was in foster care. Like I was a “bad kid.” I felt so unwanted and, sometimes, even hopeless.
As I grew up and started volunteering and mentoring foster youth, I realized I wasn’t alone. There were so many of us. And though our experiences varied widely, we had a lot in common. We were used to people making wrong and often negative assumptions about us, based on poor representation via the news, TV, movies, books, you name it. I wanted to write a story where a foster kid struggles, yes, but also one where she doesn’t give up. One where she refuses to become that negative statistic us foster kids are so often being told we will become.
THE QUIET YOU CARRY isn’t based on me. It’s fiction. But it is partially inspired by circumstances I’ve experienced or have seen in the lives of others. Similarly, THE QUIET YOU CARRY isn’t meant to serve as a one-size-fits all narrative about what it’s like to be in foster care. I hope to see many, many more books with foster kid protagonists because there are so many different experiences.
I grew up in the Nevada foster care system, living in six different towns in the six years I was in care. I didn't know what foster care was, not really, until I entered the system, and it felt like no one else could possibly understand what I was going through. Even worse, many people judged me, like it was my fault I was in foster care. Like I was a “bad kid.” I felt so unwanted and, sometimes, even hopeless.
As I grew up and started volunteering and mentoring foster youth, I realized I wasn’t alone. There were so many of us. And though our experiences varied widely, we had a lot in common. We were used to people making wrong and often negative assumptions about us, based on poor representation via the news, TV, movies, books, you name it. I wanted to write a story where a foster kid struggles, yes, but also one where she doesn’t give up. One where she refuses to become that negative statistic us foster kids are so often being told we will become.
THE QUIET YOU CARRY isn’t based on me. It’s fiction. But it is partially inspired by circumstances I’ve experienced or have seen in the lives of others. Similarly, THE QUIET YOU CARRY isn’t meant to serve as a one-size-fits all narrative about what it’s like to be in foster care. I hope to see many, many more books with foster kid protagonists because there are so many different experiences.
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