EDUCATORS NEED TO ADDRESS ADOPTION AS DIVERSITY ISSUE

"In order to give all students the best prospects for success, educators need to increase their knowledge about adoption (including aspects of foster care) and should implement changes in their schools to make them more responsive to the needs of adopted children."
(Evan B. Donaldson Institute)

TEACHER'S GUIDE
PAMELA LOWELL
RETURNABLE GIRL

"Ronnie's character is so real that readers will root for her and hope that she makes the right choices. Her circumstances may have been beyond her control, but she learns that faith in humanity can have a positive influence on the future. This book deals with a variety of sensitive issues that many teenage readers will identify with. It is engaging, upsetting, and uplifting, all at the same time."--Children's Literature, October 2006

“Before reading Returnable Girl, I had no idea what it would be like to be adopted. I don't know any adopted kids, and Ronnie's story really gave me some insight into how hard life can be for a foster child. Ronnie wanted so badly to fit in with the "popular" crowd, and I could literally picture her at my school, and knew exactly what kind of kids she would want to be friends with. I really liked how you wrote Ronnie's story. I was able to relate to her even though we had hardly anything in common!” --Amber/ teen reader.

Introduction

In Returnable Girl, Pamela Lowell tells the story of a foster teen who is caught up in the “system.” Abandoned by her birth mother and then put into foster care by her uncle and his wife, thirteen-year-old Ronnie Hartman has been returned ten times in two years. Ronnie finds herself in circumstances which many if not most foster kids/and adolescents face: where do I truly belong?

When the novel begins Ronnie is living with her new foster mother, Alison, a therapist and single woman who specializes in helping troubled teens. Ronnie has issues with lying and stealing, and is in danger of being placed in residential treatment. She is an eighth grader in middle school whose only friend is a goth-like pudgy girl named Cat. Desperate to fit in and haunted by memories of the mother (and little brothers) who abandoned her, Ronnie makes a series of choices that conflict with her moral core. When she steals a necklace from Paige, the most popular girl in school (and then betrays her best friend in the process) she is faced with a dilemma: how can she remain friends with an outcast like Cat and still be accepted by Paige?

Halfway through the novel, Alison announces that she wants to adopt her, but Ronnie is confused. How would her birth mother feel about her being adopted? Would she ever get to see her little brothers again? She relies on a friendship with a motor-cycle riding youth minister named Francis, to help her begin to “listen to the truth of her heart.”

As the novel progresses we see the outcast Cat get rejected and bullied by Ronnie and her peers. Cat is not in foster care, but she has also become, sadly, “returnable.” Alison is not perfect either, and in an attempt to protect Ronnie she hides a letter which tells of Ronnie’s birth mother’s wish to pursue reunification. Ronnie feels betrayed once again and must ultimately choose who to trust: the mother who abandoned her--or Alison who still wants to adopt her.

Teaching Ideas
Returnable Girl is really about two separate yet connecting themes: one traces Ronnie as a foster teen and her journey to adoption. The other chronicles her attempts to fit in with the popular clique at middle school, and how she betrays herself and her best friend in the process. A sense of self, belonging, friendship, bullying (peer relational aggression) and diversity are all important concepts in the language arts and social studies curriculum. Teaching Units can tie in with National events: November is National Adoption Awareness Month, and May is National Foster Care Month.

PRE-READING ACTIVITY
Have your class research the numerous foster care agencies in their state. How many foster kids are in the “system” in their area? There are over half-million children nationwide. What is the process that a child might go into foster care? How do children get from foster care to adoption? What happens to teens if they are not adopted? Over 20,000 teens “age-out” of the system nationwide each year. What does it mean to age out of foster care?

VOCABULARY
Have students find the following foster care/adoption terms and try to define them from context clues: overnight emergency placements (pg 1) abandonment issues (pg 7) respite (pg 17) custody hearing (pg 55) caseworker (pg 61) permanent custody (pg 122) terminating parental rights (pg 132) G.A.L. (pg 144) reunification hearing (pg 163)

THEMATIC CONNECTIONS

Belonging

Ronnie is a foster teen who at the beginning of the novel is rejected by her peers. How does she gain acceptance by the popular crowd? What must she give up in order to fit in?
Is popularity worth the price? What price does her friend Cat pay for trying to fit in?
What changes need to occur as Ronnie finds a place where she truly belongs?

Sense of Self
What is it that makes up identity? Have students answer the question “Who am I?” on a sheet of paper twenty times. Adolescence is a search for self. Have students trace Ronnie’s search for self geographically: imagine her ten foster placements and what might have happened in each to “terminate” the placement. How would Ronnie describe herself at the beginning vs. the end of the novel. How has she changed?

Values in Conflict
The decisions that Ronnie makes are often in direct conflict with what she knows is the right thing to do. Have students trace the number of times that Ronnie makes a “wrong” decision. Do those decisions have immediate consequences for her? What about for those around her? How difficult is it to reverse a “bad” decision, rather than make the “right” one in the first place? What does it mean to be “ethical”? Do you always know when you’re making the “right” decision? What guides or moral codes to you use to help you decide what to do?

Bullying
Teens don’t often use violence in order to hurt one another, but often times the scars inflicted by exclusion and peer-relational bullying can hurt just as much. Have students research the definitions of bully/victim/bystander. Roles that teens play in the bully/victim/bystander positions are rarely static. Trace how Ronnie, Paige, and Cat all switch roles within the story. Ask students if they have ever found themselves acting differently around different people. Discuss how difficult it can be to stick up for someone who is being victimized, and brainstorm ways they can help prevent bullying in the classroom and in their schools.

Family Life and Diversity
Ronnie must manage her feelings about two families: her birth family, and the family that she shares with her foster mother. Have students give examples of when Ronnie feels torn and ambivalent about either of these two families. Many students live in “blended” families. Do people have to be related to be part of a family? Describe the relationship between Ronnie and her birth mother and brothers. Look up what a genogram is and create one of Ronnie’s family (s) and your family.

Friendship
Ronnie has never really had people she could depend on in her life. Have students explore the meaning of friendships and what sort of qualities they look for in friends. How do students think Ronnie’s home life affects her ability to make friends? Are there things she learns about friendship in the story? How can you tell she has changed?

CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS

Language Arts
Ask students to write a journal entry about what it might feel like to be abruptly taken from their family and placed with a new family. What things would they miss the most? What sort of rules might be different? What strengths might they call upon within themselves to deal with that loss?

Social Studies
Have students invite a local foster care or adoption specialist to the classroom to discuss foster care and adoption terms and what resources are available for teens in their state. Have the specialist explain the flaws in public policy that make it difficult for older kids to find placements, and have the class help brainstorm solutions.

Creative Drama/Theater/Music
Have students role play a situation where they might try to help someone who is new or different to fit in. Have students find songs that address the themes of exclusion and finding it hard to fit in. Song suggestions: Avril Lavigne: Unwanted. I’m with You.

About The Author

Pamela Lowell is a licensed clinical social worker who specializes in counseling adolescents and their families. She began her career as a special education teacher working at a residential treatment facility with teenagers from inner city Washington, D.C. She received her Master’s degree in Social Work from Rutgers University in 1984, and has worked in a variety of settings from private schools, to mental health centers and currently is in private practice. She lives in Rhode Island with her husband and children. Ms. Lowell began writing almost ten years ago, and has published poems, essays, and a self-help book for parents titled, Survival Meditations for Parents of Teens. Returnable Girl is her first novel. She is traveling across the U.S. giving talks about teens in foster care and peer bullying. She welcomes comments from readers and can be reached at www.pamelalowell.com

Reviews
School Library Journal, October, 2006
"By creating a truly believable teenage narrative voice and a fully realized cast of characters, Lowell offers an engrossing, well-plotted, and impressive read. Each character, from Ronnie’s depressed and self-destructive neighbor to the motorcycle-riding youth minister, struggles with very human challenges and plays a meaningful role in the girl’s growth. Difficult issues–betrayal, depression, emotional abuse–are handled without melodrama or sensationalism. Ultimately, the novel celebrates the resilience of both teens and adults, the bonds formed in healing, and the journeys taken in finding and following one’s heart. Readers will feel they have traveled the physical and emotional distance with Ronnie, and will find comfort and hope in the story’s resolution.–Riva Pollard, The Winsor School Library, Boston

Kirkus Reviews
"A convincing portrait of a troubled 13-year-old girl lifts this above the level of mere entertainment. As a family therapist, Lowell knows something about unhappy adolescents. Her expertise allows her to depict not only Ronnie's growing understanding of her situation and those of her friends, but also the reality of her life, all through Ronnie's eyes."

Recommendations for educators to address adoption as diversity issue
Resources for Foster Care/ Adoption
In order to give all students the best prospects for success, educators need to increase their knowledge about adoption (including aspects of foster care) and should implement changes in their schools to make them more responsive to the needs of adopted children, according to a new report released today by the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute and the Center for Adoption Support and Education. (October 2006)
The report, "Adoption in the Schools: A Lot to Learn," for the first time brings together research and years of broad experience on a range of issues that affect millions of boys and girls nationwide. It points out that, as adoption becomes increasingly normalized in the United States, more and more adoptive families are confronting challenges when their children attend school - and it offers recommendations for how educators can better meet those challenges.
"Few professionals in our country care more for children every day than teachers, but they have not received much training about issues that affect a significant number of their students," said Adam Pertman, Executive Director of the Adoption Institute. "As the new school year gets going, that's a gap we hope this important report will help to fill."
http://www.adoptioninstitute.org/index.php (to read the entire article)
Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption www.DaveThomasFoundationForAdoption.org
National Foster and Adoptive Parent Association www.nfpainc.org
North American Council on Adoptable Children www.nacac.org

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This guide was prepared by Pamela Lowell, former special education teacher, and now writer and clinical social worker in private practice in East Providence Rhode Island.

Copyright Pamela Lowell