For foster kids, grownup mentors make all the difference

The girl’s father lost job after job. Her family often lived on throwaway food begged from local grocery stores. Stressed out and drinking heavily, her parents beat her brothers or locked them inside closets when they misbehaved. Her mother shook knives in the children's faces and terrorized them with graphic threats. Her parents were so drowned in booze and woes that the children became almost feral, a litter of sad-eyed pups tumbling in the yard.