Other Orphan Train Stories

[ebeth]

Wow, it's nice hearing other people's opinion on the story. I shied away from this book a long time ago but after reading all of what you had to say about it, I am very interested in reading now. Thank you so much for sharing.

[braver]

Wow, it's nice hearing other people's opinion on the story. I shied away from this book a long time ago but after reading all of what you had to say about it, I am very interested in reading now. Thank you so much for sharing.

I'm curious - what was it that made you shy away from the book in the first place?

[rssllue]

There was someone in my old neighborhood who adopted older boys for the tax deductions and government benefits and would keep a lock on the fridge and make them work and give them the money from their jobs. It was disgusting to know we lived next to that. One of the boys was my age growing up and I finally figured out the situation when he was 18 because he started dating my friend and he was so beaten down emotionally it was sad, but we gave him a plan. He was old enough to leave and once he had a solid job for long enough he could go back and petition to adopt all his foster brothers in the home. Now five years later he's finally brought light to the situation and has all his brothers under his wing now and his foster parents are in jail.

Even in such horrible situations, it is so great to see that there is hope for a better future. Sometimes it is difficult to see how things can get better, but God just makes a way through circumstances or other people getting involved such as you guys did for those kids. Well done! Where there is life, there is hope! We need more light in this darkened world for sure.

[Paliden]

I would say at least the babies would have been taken care of. No one is going to volunteer to take a baby that they don't want to make part of their family. Babies are a lot of work.

This is something that I thought throughout the entire book! In today's foster system at least, babies are the first to find new homes because they're physically tiring, but they don't have the emotional baggage that older children come with. It almost gets to the point where you can say babies are taken in to be loved, and older children are taken in to be used for physical labor or as a means to receive government money (which is supposed to go to the child, but some a**holes keep it for themselves).

So true. And sad.

[CrescentMoon]

Usually when I think of foster families, the first thing that comes to mind are abuse and living in harsh conditions. I think I'm so used to reading about foster kids being mistreated that we actually forget about the families that take foster kids in with a genuine concern and need to help them. I really hope for the kids' sake that this is the case because we need more good people like this.

[Heidi M Simone]

Here's a link to some other Orphan Train stories: http://orphantraindepot.org/orphan-train-rider-stories/

Thank you for link. The stories do look interesting!

[Prisaneify]

I'm probably just a huge monster but I like learning about all of the different crappy things people have been through. I think it helps me appreciate what I have and how bad it could truly be. Just graduated with my bachelors in Criminology so here's to hoping I can make the world a better place through case work!

[Amh73090]

I hope this isn't true that they were worse. But unfortunately you never know. I can only hope they weren't.

[Circling Turtle]

Someone close to me was fostered in France for two years because her father was working in Germany and for some reason the laws at the time treated her like an orphan because her mother was dead, and wouldn't let her stay with her father, and the rest of her family is here in SA. The foster family, who were 'serial' fosterers, were part of a child pornography ring and she was horrifically abused during her time there. She was so terrified and brainwashed that she never said anything, and the situation only came to light because of something she said in passing to her family when she was on holiday. The foster family looked perfect from the outside. Luckily they were convicted, but her emotional scars will never go away. She blocked out the memories until they surfaced in therapy forty years later... Sometimes the truth is more disturbing than fiction.

But yeah, I also have friends who have fostered with genuinely good intentions, and have helped many children.

[Heidi M Simone]

Someone close to me was fostered in France for two years because her father was working in Germany and for some reason the laws at the time treated her like an orphan because her mother was dead, and wouldn't let her stay with her father, and the rest of her family is here in SA. The foster family, who were 'serial' fosterers, were part of a child pornography ring and she was horrifically abused during her time there. She was so terrified and brainwashed that she never said anything, and the situation only came to light because of something she said in passing to her family when she was on holiday. The foster family looked perfect from the outside. Luckily they were convicted, but her emotional scars will never go away. She blocked out the memories until they surfaced in therapy forty years later... Sometimes the truth is more disturbing than fiction.

But yeah, I also have friends who have fostered with genuinely good intentions, and have helped many children.

Oh my goodness! What a horrendous experience for her. I'm glad that those people were convicted, but she'll have those scars forever. Prayers for her.

[MrsCatInTheHat]

I hope this isn't true that they were worse. But unfortunately you never know. I can only hope they weren't.

Many orphans that were part of the orphan trains were treated as servants, pretty much until the aged out or escaped. They didn't have pretty stories to tell.

[hannahbm13]

Somebody in my class gave a presentation on orphan trains and it was very interesting. However, it was also quite sad. I do believe, nevertheless, that not everybody in similar situations were treated as poorly as the character in this story.

[Kia]

I really want to hope that there were a lot of happily ever after stories-and I'm sure there were. But I'm equally sure that there was a lot of abuse and neglect these children had to endure.

[MarisaRose]

I can only imagine that every story is different and equally horrifying in it's own way. I do hope there are some stories of positivity to outweigh some of the negative. Does anyone know of any other stories (novels or nonfiction) dealing with the orphan trains? I would be interested in reading other stories related to the matter!

[AA1495]

One of my high school teachers adopted a baby girl and the teacher couldn't be any happier. The baby is her DP on all social media platforms. its amazing to see such warmth and happiness