Adriene Caldwell has done more than survive—she has thrived. A former foster youth who beat the odds, Adriene is part of the less than 3% who go on to attend college, despite statistics showing that 20% of the U.S. prison population once passed through the foster care system. She doesn’t sugarcoat life’s harsh realities, but instead offers something far more powerful: hope. Hope that trauma will end, that the future can be different, and that life, even after the worst experiences, can improve.Adriene’s story is not an easy one, best captured by the trigger warnings that accompany her book: emotional and physical abuse, sexual assault of a child, the drowning death of a child, extreme poverty, mental illness, homelessness, foster care, pedophilia, graphic sexual descriptions, violence, bulimia, incest, death, and suicide. It is a story of pain, resilience, and ultimately, the possibility of a better life.
In This Episode