Hoover author shows foster care from child's perspective

For many children in foster care and awaiting adoption, the journey can be very confusing. Hoover resident and author Chandra Sparks Splond aims to help with her latest book.

“‘You’ve Gotta Have Faith’ follows 10-year-old Destini Daniels on her journey through foster care,” said Splond. “This is actually the second book in my Date with Destini series. In the first book, ‘The Greatest Gift of All’, Destini is in foster care, and she comes up with a scheme to get adopted. In ‘You’ve Gotta Have Faith’, she’s on the verge of being adopted, but a few things occur that make her lose faith that it will actually happen.”

Splond, who is also the author of several books for young adults, hopes ‘You’ve Gotta Have Faith’ will give kids and adults a glimpse into the foster care system from a child’s perspective.

“If you are living with your biological family, there are a lot of things you take for granted,” Splond said. “No family is perfect, but it’s still your family. There are so many kids out there dreaming of having a forever family and the life that many take for granted. Their stories need to be told.”

Splond decided to write the Date with Destini series because foster care and adoption are not a subject she has often seen addressed in books for African-American children, and she wanted to tackle some of the issues kids in foster care and awaiting adoption go through.

“I hope ‘The Greatest Gift of All’ and ‘You’ve Gotta Have Faith’ will give readers who are in foster care or awaiting adoption hope that their situation will change. I also hope the books will help those with families stop and realize how blessed they are,” she said. “I want the Date with Destini series to be a blessing to readers and help them look at foster care and adoption in a different light.”

– Submitted by Chandra Sparks Splond.