“They have to go someplace,” writes Kathy Harrison in her compelling portrait of life as a foster mother, “the children you read about in the paper, the injured ones with burns and broken arms, the little ones found alone in cold apartments.”  As a foster parent on the hot-line list (people willing to take children in an emergency), Harrison and her family took in an unending stream of children, from infants to school-age children, fed them, clothed them, loved them, and then sent them on their way.  Most stayed for just a day or two, or maybe a week, but a few children were fostered long-term, and the story of Danny, mentally ill and a budding pedophile; Lucy, ignored and neglected by her mother; Karen, an infant whose mother was a substance-abuser; and Sara, a feral six-year-old abused by almost every adult in her life, are the real focus of Another Place at the Table.

There is a lot of sadness in this book, too many children whose lives are so damaged that love is not enough to save them, too few miracles and too much heartbreak.  But this is also a hopeful book in that Harrison is what a foster mother should be: a loving advocate for some of society’s neediest children.

Harrison has another memoir being published in April, One Small Boat, which tells the story of Daisy, a challenging five-year-old who affects Harrison in unexpected ways.