In the Care of Strangers: The Autobiography of a Foster Child

D. Alexander Holiday

apr 2010 · Xlibris Corporation

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In three previous books, through a selection of prose poems, the author shared bits and pieces of a life, one comprised of complete abandonment by a mother and the disconnected roles played by extended family members, a life that eventually led to being placed in foster care. Now, for the first time, with In the Care of Strangers, he tells the entire story of what such a life was actually like. In this five-part memoir, dependent on the seven deadly sins, the author tries to reconstruct a painful journey of coming of age under the literal care of strangers and the individuals that made up the foster homes and hospitals that would help to shape a young man’s life, certainly a difficult life, riddled with abuse from the start (Malice) and ending with greed and envy in a fourth and final home. He finds and develops pride in himself while recuperating from a paralysis. How this young man attempts to survive the experiences of foster care while also having to contend with a disability, and still managing to try to simply achieve graduation from high school, with a goal toward college, is a testament to a human spirit beyond measure. This riveting story, told through an innocent, almost childlike voice of a boy shocked into care, then as an older man who has come to terms with his situation (The Unclaimed), and finally through the poetry, should be taken as an inspiration for many.

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Author D. Alexander Holiday was born in New York City, raised in various foster homes, and stricken with Gillian Barreacute; Syndrome (or Ascending Paralysis) at the age of ten. He attended Bernard M.Baruch College and The State University of New York at Albany, receiving both a Bachelor and a Master of Arts degree from Albany University. He is the recipient of the Spellman Award from Albany University. He has published in various publications, among them The Amherst Society, A&U Magazine and more recently Arabesques Review (an international anthology and website). He has four chap books of poetry, Notes to Porsheacute;, Tales From This Black Heart, The Voices in My Head (which is a collaboration with fifteen area poets) and I Use To Fall Down. He has published essays on ERIC,the research database. He has read on radio, for Crystal Brownacute;s "Reading for the Blind" program, has been on radio for Kym Flemingacute;s RPI program, and has done a television appearance for Public Television. Mr. Holiday also volunteers and moderates a creative writing workshop for inmates at a state maximum security facility in upstate New York. His is also a local liaison for the GBS/CIDP Foundation International. He is the author of Letters to Osama, I Use To Fall Down, and All The Killers Gathered. His work can also be found at a variety of websites such as SpeakWithoutInterruption.com, Helium.com and AlbanyPoets.com.