Foster Care In The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls

If you have ever read The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls you would state that Rex and Mary Walls were unfit parents for their 4 children, Lori, Jeannette, Brian, and Maureen. They would even go as far to say that the 4 children would have been better off living in foster care. Even though people truly believe foster care would be better for the children, this is not true, they would have not been better in foster care. It has been proven that foster care often has a deep effect on children as they grow up. Sometimes there are worse living conditions in foster care than in the real biological parents’ home, and this may have been true in the case of the Walls children, because constant movement and living poor truly helped the children learn …show more content…
While Jeannette’s parents may have seemed like very bad, selfish parents, in reality, they were not completely “unfit” as many people would think. Most of their children grew up to be very successful adults, and Furthermore, Rex and Mary had many moments throughout their lives where they proved that they cared for their kids, even while being on a very low budget. Jeannette and her father, Rex, share many great moments throughout the story. His nickname for her was “Mountain Goat” and he often hung out with her when he was home. He preferred Jeannette over his other children, and helped her out when she needed, as she did the same for him. He shows that he really cares about Jeannette numerous times, like when Jeanette talks about dropping out of college, he says, “The hell you are, there’s nine hundred and fifty bucks, it’s yours. Since when is it wrong for a father to take care of his little girl”(264-265). This shows how much Rex cares for Jeanette, giving her almost all the money he has so she can pay for college, even though Rex lives on the street and has almost nothing. There is another moment where Rex is talking with Jeannette and gives her a star for Christmas, telling her about the amazing glass castle he is going to build for her and the family, even going as far to draw the plans from multiple angles. Rex also shows that he loves Jeannette a lot and they have a …show more content…
There are many worse conditions in foster care that are as bad as the Walls’ living conditions. There have been many cases where adoptive parents or foster parents have abused and even tortured children, resulting in them running away and being mentally damaged for the rest of their lives. According to The National Alliance to End Homelessness, “In 2013, 6,189 foster home kids ran away due to brutal and harsh parenting.” Rex and Mary were sometimes careless allowing the kids to do as they liked, but never went as far as beating their kids and never to the point where they wanted to run away. Foster care often includes kids who are abused by their parents, and must enter it to escape this. Jeannette and her siblings were never abused or hit by Rex and Mary other than the one time Rex hit Jeanette, due to her back talking. Rex and Mary were not completely bad parents, they possessed some good parenting qualities, such as love and affection, and taught the kids relationship skills and to stay and be loyal to each other. They also taught them how to be independent, allowing them to be on their own most of the time, teaching them many life skills without having to watch them at every minute. They also showed them that you have to be tough, not letting a simple bruise or

Show More

Foster Care In The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls

Related Documents: Foster Care In The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls

The Glass Castle Book Report