Stay
is a heartfelt memoir about stepping into Kinship Foster Care when a little girl in Mary Wills's extended family needed a safe and steady home. What began as a temporary arrangement grew into a life-changing commitment that revealed the hidden impact of childhood trauma, the challenges of trauma-informed parenting, and the resilience required to care for a child whose early experiences shaped her behaviors and needs.
With honesty and compassion, Mary shares what it meant to become a caregiver overnight. She describes navigating foster care systems, working with social work and child welfare professionals, attending school meetings and IEP advocacy sessions, and learning to understand behaviors rooted in fear rather than defiance. Through therapeutic support and the DDP PACE model, she discovered practical ways to build attachment and connection, offering both stability and hope.
Woven through these caregiving years are reflections on Mary's own past, including grief, early hardship, and the experiences that shaped her understanding of safety and belonging. Her story shows how healing often moves in small steps and how caring for a traumatized child can transform the caregiver as well.
Both candid and encouraging,
offers insight for foster parents, kinship caregivers, educators, and anyone walking alongside a child who has endured early adversity. It is a story about family resilience, steady love, and the courage it takes to keep showing up, even in the hardest seasons.