Whatever happened to ... the foster child with a story to tell?

Whatever happened to . . .

By Angie Drobnic Holan, Times Staff Writer
Published January 13, 2008

ADVERTISEMENT Ashley Rhodes-Courter's book, Three Little Words, was just released. [Handout]

"Lucky No. 13," May 24, 2007; see past coverage at life.tampabay.com.

THE STORY: Ashley Rhodes-Courter was finishing her final year at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg after spending years in Florida's foster care system. She had just been named one of Glamour magazine's Top 10 college women, in honor of her volunteer work on behalf of foster children. Her parents, Gay and Phil Courter of Crystal River, adopted Rhodes-Courter through the Children's Home of Tampa. Her essay about the adoption, Three Little Words, won a New York Times essay contest and inspired Simon & Schuster to offer her a book contract. When first interviewed, Ashley was working on the manuscript.

FROM THE STORY: A few weeks ago, Ashley drove up from Eckerd College for Mother's Day. She and Gay sat down together to check photo captions for her book. Then they cooked up a triple batch of veggie soup for Ashley to take back to school with her. Phil read the paper while Ashley tried to figure out how to cut up onions without crying. . . .

Ashley still calls Gay and Phil by their first names, rather than Mom and Dad. But going away to college has paradoxically brought her closer to them, Ashley says. "They're my best friends now," she said.

THE REST OF THE STORY: Ashley graduated from college in December with a double major in communications and theater, and her memoir Three Little Words was released earlier this month (Simon & Schuster, 320 pages, $17.99 through Barnes and Noble, bn.com). To write the book, she combed through her foster care records with help from her parents, piecing together her history. She learned how and why she was moved from place to place, and she learned more about her biological family's circumstances.

"Now I have answers to a lot of the questions I had about my life," she said. "It's helped me form a more solid idea of who I am and where I want to go."

The Courters have encouraged her to keep in touch with her biological family.

"Their attitude was, you can't have too many people in your life who care about you," she said.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT: Ashley expects to spend most of this year promoting the book and speaking on behalf of foster care children. Career-wise, she's open to whatever happens next, but she thinks she's going to stay involved in advocating for loving families for foster children. Too often, she said, kids become too old to stay in the foster system and end up in jail or on the streets.

"I didn't want to write a story that said, 'Oh poor me; I was abused; I had a hard life,' " she said. "I want this to be a call to action and have people feel like they want to get involved."

[Last modified January 11, 2008, 17:12:59]