Cris Beam is a lesbian, non-religious lady who lives in New York. That’s not a knock. She said it.

I’m a straight, Christian male in Alabama.

All I’m trying to say is… we are not the same. But we are both aware of a glaring problem in America: Foster Care.

To the End of June follows real foster families and foster children in New York. Over ten years ago. Who knows what it looks like today? And in Alabama, I hear stories, too few of which give me the warm fuzzies.

Sure, I have ideas. Remove government? Privatize? Added security?

I’m not sure of the solution. There may not be one. At least there is no cut and dry way to go about it. I find myself in many instances an advocate for relieving parents of their moral obligations, but a judge throwing out TPRs like candy from a Christmas float isn’t exactly a mercy-filled approach.

And case workers don’t get paid enough. At one point in my home county, they all quit. And I don’t blame them.

As I reflect on this book and my desire to improve foster care across the country, I am reminded of an Alter Bridge lyric.

“Will I find some kind of conviction?

Will I bid the hero farewell?

Or will I be defined by things that could have been?

I guess time will only tell.”