What do you think?
Rate this book
Dandelion: Once a foster child, always a foster child.
The echo of the spinning tire beneath her car seemed to ring louder than the music she attempted to drown her thoughts in. Watching the world pass by in a haze, America sped down the freeway and out of the city while flashbacks of her long-forgotten childhood consumed her. Her parents failed her, the foster care system failed her, social workers, probation officers, teachers and everyone who was supposed to protect her, tossed her aside. Now, years after emancipating and finding her husband in another woman's arms, America ran from her past yet again. Feeling weak and defeated, she sped into the distance leaving everyone, and everything she's ever known behind. Realizing that she was exactly what everyone always told her she would become - a statistic, her world shatters. Alone and suffering, she found herself spiraling into a dark hole as memories flood in. She's finally had enough.
168 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 15, 2019
13 people are currently reading
22 people want to read
About the author
America DeFleur
7 books16 followersAmerica DeFleur is a former foster youth and self-published author from Sacramento County. Aside from writing, America works a local nonprofit foster care agency and enjoys providing support services for underserved youth and families. She loves creating opportunities to help enrich the lives of others. You can find her wandering the beach, snapping photos, eating truckloads of avocados or glued to the end of a paintbrush. Visit her at www.americadefleur.com
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 27, 2019
America tells a heartbreaking story about a life riddled with abuse, negligence, assault and abandonment throughout a number of living situations including perilous placements with biological family, foster care placements, group homes, and juvenile hall. She captures with chilling precision the jumbled emotions and resulting behavior so prominent in children and adults with similar backgrounds; anyone who's been through a traumatic childhood trauma and been a ward of the state will recognize themselves within her pages while anyone lucky enough to be unfamiliar with finish the book with an accurate picture of what it's like. Readers will see the threads between past and present unwind and reveal themselves as the author intersperses the moments from a current event with flashes of her childhood, leaving no doubt as to how they are connected.
At the end of the book, America has unraveled the jumbled, knotted mess of the connection between past and present and takes a stand to no longer passively be a product of her previous experiences. She leaves you inspired, regardless of your own personal background. As a survivor of childhood abuse myself and a foster child, I can attest to the sentiments she expresses and honestly say that I finished her book in awe of her strength, her compassion, and her willingness to turn into the wind, choosing the harder path to break the cycle and give herself and her family a better life.
At the end of the book, America has unraveled the jumbled, knotted mess of the connection between past and present and takes a stand to no longer passively be a product of her previous experiences. She leaves you inspired, regardless of your own personal background. As a survivor of childhood abuse myself and a foster child, I can attest to the sentiments she expresses and honestly say that I finished her book in awe of her strength, her compassion, and her willingness to turn into the wind, choosing the harder path to break the cycle and give herself and her family a better life.
May 23, 2019
This book provides insight into the foster care system. The story begins with America, as a small child. She struggles to keep her younger siblings and herself safe as her mother spirals downward. America’s mother is addicted to drugs and alcohol. As time goes on, America becomes a part of the foster care system struggling with her own depression, jealousy, and behavioral problems. She struggles to get her life on an even keel but never seems to overcome her own emotional struggles. America hates the life her mother has inflicted upon her. Will she ever be able to forgive her?
This book takes the reader on an emotional journey. Readers will laugh and cry but will be drawn into the compelling read. Recommended for young adult and adult audiences.
This book takes the reader on an emotional journey. Readers will laugh and cry but will be drawn into the compelling read. Recommended for young adult and adult audiences.
October 20, 2019
When I first encountered America DeFleur on Twitter and she suggested I add her book Dandelion to my To Be Read pile, I did a quick Kindle search. After I found the book, I immediately judged it by a simple phrase on the cover: “Once a foster child, always a foster child.”
The book was on my Kindle within moments, the digital cover open as I quickly scrolled to the first page. Once I began reading, I couldn’t put it down.
America tells a heart-wrenching story. Eloquently and bluntly written, Dandelion begins with one of America’s most difficult moments before taking the reader back in time to walk alongside her throughout her youth. From a dangerously negligent home life to the perils of life as a street kid, from a foster facility to an abusive and gas-lit experience with her father, to a seemingly perfect foster mother to juvenile hall, the reader feels the confusion and chaos of America’s youth with every word. As America recalls each potentially-defining experience of her life, she begins to feel hope – something the reader knows has been all too rare in the author’s life.
As a survivor of child abuse myself, reading America’s story was bittersweetly familiar. At times, her story was comforting to know someone else had felt the way I had as a child and still do today as an adult. However, it was also painful to realize my story is not unique – that so many others feel lost, abandoned, and “numbered” by an imperfect system that stereotypes many of those who pass through it.
The amount of courage it must’ve taken America to share her story is remarkable and worthy of so much praise. It is our duty, as citizens of the world, to read it (and the others like it) so that we may begin to recognize the footsteps of our peers and the paths that so many walk. We must discuss these lives and encourage those who are living them. We must work to improve our foster care system as well as our communities to embrace all members, no matter how difficult or messy their lives have been. And we can begin this process by reading Dandelion because America’s story is so similar to that of so many of our children.
The book was on my Kindle within moments, the digital cover open as I quickly scrolled to the first page. Once I began reading, I couldn’t put it down.
America tells a heart-wrenching story. Eloquently and bluntly written, Dandelion begins with one of America’s most difficult moments before taking the reader back in time to walk alongside her throughout her youth. From a dangerously negligent home life to the perils of life as a street kid, from a foster facility to an abusive and gas-lit experience with her father, to a seemingly perfect foster mother to juvenile hall, the reader feels the confusion and chaos of America’s youth with every word. As America recalls each potentially-defining experience of her life, she begins to feel hope – something the reader knows has been all too rare in the author’s life.
As a survivor of child abuse myself, reading America’s story was bittersweetly familiar. At times, her story was comforting to know someone else had felt the way I had as a child and still do today as an adult. However, it was also painful to realize my story is not unique – that so many others feel lost, abandoned, and “numbered” by an imperfect system that stereotypes many of those who pass through it.
The amount of courage it must’ve taken America to share her story is remarkable and worthy of so much praise. It is our duty, as citizens of the world, to read it (and the others like it) so that we may begin to recognize the footsteps of our peers and the paths that so many walk. We must discuss these lives and encourage those who are living them. We must work to improve our foster care system as well as our communities to embrace all members, no matter how difficult or messy their lives have been. And we can begin this process by reading Dandelion because America’s story is so similar to that of so many of our children.
March 8, 2019
Bravo. Just Bravo!!!! Really great perspective, totally helps me understand what life is like for children in foster care, as well as after too. I'm so glad I stumbled across this, I feel so connected to the writer now.
February 17, 2019
This book drove so much sadness into my heart as it reminded me so much of my own childhood, i wish i can finally learn how to let go like the author did
March 2, 2019
It’s good to see the perspective of a former foster youth.
May 24, 2021
Powerful story by an honest and brave young woman. I met the author at the 2020 SF Writer's Conference and was impressed with her story and her determination to be a positive force for change and inspiration for others who have been through the foster care system.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews