Andrew Bridge

Andrew Bridge is the author of Hope's Boy.

Robert Anasi interviewed Bridge for Publishers Weekly.

A couple of exchanges from the Q & A:

Is the foster-care system as horrible in general as it was for you in particular?

Well, everyone’s experience is different. These are all individual lives, and individual tragedies, that we’re talking about. But I think overwhelmingly, there is far, far too little good. Within two years of leaving foster care, a third to half of the kids are homeless, and a majority of the girls are pregnant. And their kids often end up in the same system.

Is it mainly a problem with the system?

The government does a fairly good job of paving roads and putting out fires, but when it comes to caring for the lives of individual people, it tends to do poorly. Veterans hospitals, psychiatric care, public nursing homes, you name it. We have a long history in this country of not respecting the integrity and values of families in poverty.

Read the full interview.

Learn more about Hope's Boy.

--Marshal Zeringue