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Annotated Bibliography

Adopt Us Kids Organization. Youtube.com. 5 June 2009. 9 Oct. 2010.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFBa9cK52vM

Adopt Us Kids is an organization that cooperates with children who are placed in
foster care and are up for adoption. The organization looks for adults whom are
willing to adopt children, love them, and make a change not only in the child’s
life, but in the world.

This source relates to Three Little Words because the children in this video talk
about what it is like to be a foster child. They express their struggles, feelings, and
summarize their stories behind why they are in foster care. The teens tell viewers
how it feels when they move from one home to another and get their hopes up
about having a permanent home, but then they have to move again. During the
ending of the video, it is elucidated how much these children have grown and
come to accept the life they were given. Other people do not understand what it is
like for foster children because they are not in the same position. To be loved and
have a family is all these children desire. The same feelings Ashley Rhodes
experienced when she was adopted into the family of Phil and Gay Courter and
finally felt loved.

BloodLustingElf. “Our Broken Family.” Alwinclores.com. 29 Oct. 2008. 7 Oct. 2010.


http://www.alwinclores.com/2010/01/our-broken-family-poem/

In the poem Our Broken Family, the poet indicates the feeling of having a broken
family. He reminisces on the past and expresses what it is like for no one else to
feel the pain he feels. He also establishes the idea about how other people always
go on with their lives while he hurts with the idea of having no one by his side.

This poem relates to Three Little Words because the main character Ashley
struggles with her family falling apart. She is taken away from her mother at 3
years old and placed in foster housing. She is then transferred from one foster
home to another with the thoughts of being unloved. All Ashley desires is to be
reconnected with her mother. At a young age, Ashley feels like no one,
understands her pain or needs.

Gelles, Richard, Lancaster, Jane. Child Abuse and Neglect. Biosocial Dimensions. New
Jersey: Social Science Research Council, 2005.
http://books.google.com/books?
hl=en&lr=&id=vZW3aRhXKDIC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=women
%27s+perspective+on+children+dealing+with+abuse&ots=CM6wzSFHeT&sig=RV
PFH1SSk9i7Un2Rw0va2cKiNVk#v=onepage&q&f=false
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The biosocial perspective is based off of parental behavior and offspring


development. The committee was formed in 1980, but this edition is a copy right of
Gelles and Lancaster’s book. Their perspectives are explained in the book through the
focus on the study of human behavior, parental behavior, and the affects that behavior
has on a child.

This source connects to the theme behind Three Little Words. Ashley’s mother has a
substance abuse problem being the reason that Ashley and her younger brother Luke
were taken into foster care. Ashley and her brother Luke were neglected as children
being separated from their parents and dealing with social workers. However, this
source helps to understand that parental behavior does have affects on children. The
major affect that Ashley’s mother had on her was telling her that they will be together
again soon. She promised her more than 3 times and by hearing the only person she
wanted to be with say that to her, Ashley was convinced to go against her foster
parent’s rules and regulations. She sometimes acted up just so she could get the
chance to say, “I wish to be with my mother! We will be living together soon, just her
and I.” Not knowing that her family would never be together again due to a mother
who seemed to not care enough about her children.

Herman, Ellen. “The Adoption History Project. Fostering and Foster Care.”
darkwing.uoregon.edu. 11 July 2007.
http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~adoption/topics/fostering.htm

The link above describes the history of foster care. It discusses when and how foster
care came about and what a foster parent should do as a guardian.

This sources links to the overall theme of the memoir. The history of foster care is
important to understand. Some people tend to assume foster care only hurts a child,
but it may be for helping them find a family. Some foster homes contain foster
parents who are good people, and other bad. Ashley Rhodes experienced living with
bad foster parent, the Mosses. Luckily though, she was able to be taken into the
home of the loving Courter’s.

Hughes, Daniel. Facilitating Development Attachment. The Road to Emotional Recovery


and Behavioral Change in Foster and Adopted Children. Maryland: Rowman and
Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 2004.
http://books.google.com/books?id=pid3wukxt-
cC&pg=PA36&dq=theories+on+foster+homes&hl=en&ei=8jaxTNOUNsP48Aay1a
GeCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAw#v=o
nepage&q&f=false
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This source is a book by Daniel Hughes expressing his perspective on the change in
development in foster/ adopted children. Hughes conveys the idea that children who
lose their birth parents are in despairing need of love and affection to grow.
Children are always more attached to their birth parents causing them to suffer
traumatically when detached. They tend to think it is their fault that they get taken
away from their parents. In order to seek the best help, it is best that they receive
psychiatric reassurance for the future.

It is very difficult for children to grow up without their blood related family
members. Ashley Rhodes experienced this, but in a way in which she was attached
to her mother for 3 years. It was tough to pull her away emotionally from her
mother’s existence. A child has to understand the real reason why they are in the
position they are in. Ashley of course already knew, but never quite understood the
reality of it. She did attend therapy because attaining a relationship with your
parents is always important for a child, something in which she did not have for
many years. Ashley finally found her guardian angels, the Courter’s and she
accepted them for taking her in and loving her like a parent would to their child.

Pardeck, John T. Child abuse and neglect theory, research, and practice. Amsterdam:
Gordon and Breach Sciene Publishers. 1989.
http://books.google.com/books?
id=gEVZDgvUgwwC&pg=PA1&dq=theories+on+child+abuse+and+neglection&hl=
en&ei=vCexTLmoN8H78AaL_J2fAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1
&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

This source is a book by John Pardeck that explains the theories of child abuse and
neglecting children. It exemplifies that one of the major social problems in society is
child cruelty. Children tend to long for attention when they are neglected by their
parents. Also, the social environment someone is wedged in may be another major
cause in the way a child behaves.

Ashley yearned for attention around the age of 9 years old when she was transferred
to her 13th move. She began craving attention because she needed the attention that
she never received as a young child. Switching from home to home, one after the
other, she was never used to a stable homey environment. Once she got to a new
home, she never necessarily settled down because she already knew she would be
leaving sooner than later. By not getting that motherly love and attention every child
deserves, Ashley was left emotionally troubled.

Perdue, David. Oliver Twist. fidnet.com. 1997. http://charlesdickenspage.com/twist.html


http://www.fidnet.com/~dap1955/dickens/twist.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpYVXdpm6zg
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This source is a summary of the film Oliver Twist, originally a novel written by
Charles Dickenson in 1858. The main character Oliver is an orphan child and all he
wants is to be loved. He lives in an infant farm with many other orphans run by a
character Mrs. Mann. Oliver does not like the way he has to be raised so he runs
away to London. In the end, he is adopted by a man named Mr. Brownlow who
helped him on his struggling journey.

This film relates to Three Little Words because all Ashley wanted was love. As a
foster child, she struggled to accept the life she lived because all she wanted was
her mother. Oliver and Ashley both lost their mothers and were thrown into foster
care/ orphanage. Both did not like the homes they were put into or the parents who
took them in. In the end, they both find happiness with their guardians.

Rockwell, Michelle. Womensmemoirs.com. 13 Jan. 2010. 7 Oct. 2010.


http://womensmemoirs.com/memoir-book-reviews/memoir-book-review-three-
little-words-by-ashley-rhodes-courter/

Michelle Rockwell summarizes the story of Three Little Words and the life of
Ashley Rhodes-Courter. Rockwell does an excellent job in persuading readers to
get interested in the memoir.

Ashley Rhodes-Courter’s purpose in writing her memoir was so that people could
understand her past. Throughout the book, Ashley’s character is questioned a lot
about her being honest and telling lies. Ashley never told lies, but she was always
misunderstood. By writing this memoir, and telling the truth, she was able to
show readers what it was like for her growing up. Life was no joke for her as a
child, but by her being able to share her pain with people was definitely a brave
overcome for her. Rhodes wrote her story to let today’s generation of struggling
children know that they are not alone. Rhodes was encouraged to help children
today who are in the same position she was in while growing up.

Schoenfeldt, Niki. curledupkids.com. Jan. 2008.


http://curledupkids.com/3littlew.htm

This source is a book review by Niki Schoenfedlt on Ashley Rhodes- Courter’s


Three Little Words. The story is summarized explaining why Ashley wrote this
memoir.

Ashley Rhodes- Courter did not write this memoir for sympathy from others, but in
order for people to be able to understand her life. She was aspired to be able to help
children who have to suffer like she did. Today, she has currently been on an
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adoption camp’s professional staff for several years because she wants to help other
children who have lost hope to find their dreams again. It is considered good luck
for a high school student’s essay to be discovered as a surprising, yet interesting
story and then to become something greater. Her voice was heard by her writing
after many years of physical and emotional torture.

The Good News. “Churches rally to change the face of foster care.” goodnewsfl.org. 28
Jan. 2009. The Good News Organization.
http://goodnewsfl.org/content/churches-rally-change-face-foster-care

This is an article from a news piece that provides awareness for people around the
world. It shows the statistics of children who are in the foster cared system today
and waiting for a home. In this article, a husband and wife tell a story about why
they decided to adopt a child in need of care.

This source depicts reality. There are still many kids in foster care who are looking
for home and care. It is their prayers for a family to permanently take them in.
Ashley and her younger brother Luke waited for many years for a loving, friendly
family to take them in. Unfortunately, after many years they lost hope. This shows
that all the many children in this world today who are still in foster care and need
help. Some who may have suffered a life like Ashley dealing with abusive foster
parents like Mr. and Mrs. Moss (from the book). All these children need is the
guardianship of an affectionate family.

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