Three Little Words

An international bestseller, Ashley Rhodes-Courter’s 2008 memoir, Three Little Words, provides a moving account of her early life in the foster care system. Ashley is born to a teenage mother, Lorraine, who is not well placed to look after her. After her mother’s new partner, Dusty, moves in, things soon deteriorate. When the family moves to Florida, Lorraine and Dusty are both arrested, and Ashley is placed in foster care along with her younger brother, Luke.

Ashley believes that she will soon be living with her mother again, but no caregivers offer her any information or answer her questions. She and Luke go to live with Mr. and Mrs. Hines, but Ashley is soon moved on because of supposed behavioral issues. She is quickly uprooted again before staying briefly with Mr. and Mrs. Ortiz, who recognize her intelligence and allow her to start kindergarten early. Dusty visits and reveals that Lorraine is in prison.

Ashley and Luke move in with their maternal grandfather and his partner, Adele. Their grandfather is sometimes drunk and abusive to Adele, but Adele herself is loving and generous and dotes on the children. For a while, their lives are relatively happy, but when their grandfather is arrested for drunk driving, their position becomes precarious again.