Julie Reed McKissick

This memoir of an LA special education teacher, foster mother, and adopted daughter weaves together the complex themes that make up the tapestry of foster youth in America today. First-had accounts of the intersection between the juvenile probation system, public education, and the personal dynamics of displacement, rejection, and family dysfunction offer both a compassionate and critical treatment of the current state of affairs. Professional without being clinical, personal without turning sentimental, McKissick takes us on a disturbing journey which catalyzes both an impulse for heightened advocacy and a hope for a better future.

Julie Reed McKissick

McKissick completed her master’s in special education at Cal Poly, Pomona. She has spend 20 years as a teacher in special and general education with many of her students coming from L.A. County DCFS and Probation. She is currently as assistant principal at a middle school in San Bernardino County. Julie and her husband, Dave, have one biological daughter and one adopted son, and have fostered 10 children of various ages. Julie herself was adopted as an infant. She enjoys serving at her church, walking her dogs, cardio-kickboxing, Zumba, cooking, reading, and traveling. Her husband refers to her as a force of nature.