Pamela Lowell

“RETURNABLE GIRL”
THERAPIST WRITES ABOUT
TEEN IN FOSTER CARE

There are currently over half a million children in the foster care system in the United States today. On average, a child who enters care will remain in foster care for 32 months, and only about half will return to their parents. Many of the older teens will never be adopted and “age-out” of the system when they turn 18. Youths who age out of foster care experience high rates of poverty, homelessness, unemployment, incarceration and poor health. (KIDS COUNT RI)

Barrington RI, September 2006-- “I wanted to write about the foster care to adoption experience in a realistic but uplifting way—one that would encourage adoption of older children and teens,” explains Pamela Lowell, therapist and author of the young adult novel, RETURNABLE GIRL (Marshall Cavendish, October 2006) about a troubled foster teen in middle school and the woman who wants to adopt her.
Abandoned. That’s how the novel’s heroine, thirteen-year-old Ronnie Hartman, feels after her mother moves to Alaska with her good-for-nothing boyfriend, bringing Ronnie’s two younger brothers with them but leaving her behind. Since then, Ronnie has been “returned” from over ten foster placements because of her impulsive behavior.
“Foster kids almost always experience multiple placements but for older children adoptive resources are almost impossible to find. The reality is that most teens don’t end up in cushy placements like Ryan on ‘The O.C.’ There is a tendency for the media to focus on all the things that can go wrong—a major obstacle in recruiting families. We need to find permanent homes for thousands of teens in foster care…and to challenge a system which has made them too easily returnable.”
Pamela is connecting with adoptive and foster care agencies nationwide to present trainings on ambivalence and permanency issues for adopted and foster teens.

Children's Literature, October 2006
"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."

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...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

Ms. Lowell works as a child and family therapist with a private practice in East Providence, Rhode Island where she specializes in work with teenage girls and their families. SURVIVAL MEDITATIONS FOR PARENTS OF TEENS (Pauline Books, 2004) was her first book, written while experiencing the challenges of raising her own teens.
“Today’s world presents tough choices for vulnerable teens. RETURNABLE GIRL was inspired by the incredible foster and adopted children whom I’ve worked with through the years. My greatest dream is that more than a few adults who read Ronnie’s story will consider adopting an older child.”

Pamela can be reached at her website: www.pamelalowell.com.
AUTHOR AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEW
October 2006, $16.99, hardcover, Marshall Cavendish, ISBN0761453172
ALA QUICK PICKS 2006 FOR RELUCTANT YOUNG ADULT READERS
VOYA TOP SHELF FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL 2006
NYPL BOOKS FOR THE TEEN AGE