Faded Red Beads

From an Orphanage to a Disrupted Adoption

A Story of Courage, Resiliency, and Faith

by

Monica Hargrave

Heartbreaking and heartfelt testimony from a woman who successfully survived the foster care system and adoption.

Faded Red Beads: From an Orphanage to a Disrupted Adoption – A Story of Courage, Resiliency, and Faith by Monica Hargrave is the heartbreaking story of her young life in the foster system, her adoption, and the healing she has undergone to reach the place of peace she is in today. This book is not for looky-loos wanting to read about scandalous, overt cruelty, but rather a thoughtful and heartfelt account of the impact of emotional neglect, the absence of love, affection, human touch, and parental recognition. The author poses the simple and obvious questions that the adults in her life should have been asking. I fervently hope that reliving these still raw memories is cathartic. 

Monica Garnett was placed in an orphanage soon after her premature birth and eventually ended up as one of several foster children in a kind and loving woman’s home. While the foster mother didn’t have much money, she surrounded her charges with love, caring, and the feel of a real family. Monica lived in this situation for several years and was devastated when she was removed to be adopted by the O’Neals at age nine. 

The O’Neals sounded completely unsuitable to be adoptive parents, and it seemed like having a daughter was all for Mrs. O’Neal’s ego. When Mrs. O’Neal suddenly passed away before the adoption was finalized, the clueless Mr. O’Neal was on his own to nurture the young motherless Monica. A naturally strict man, he seemed overwhelmed by his feelings of keeping Monica safe from boys and went completely overboard in his methods. Thankfully, Monica had at least one older woman friend, with a good head on her shoulders, who was eventually able to get her out of what had become an untenable situation. 

The author provides interesting background information and statistics about African-American family life and how it has changed during her lifetime. The strength of her story, though, is in her discussion of her feelings on being given up for adoption, the circumstances of her birth and birth parents, and the lack of communication with fostered and adopted children. She voices the thoughts, feelings, and questions of these children. It was heartbreaking to discover later that her birth parents were both within blocks of her foster home all along, and their family members even attended the same church she did. They all knew who she was, but none of them ever reached out to her. 

I recommend FADED RED BEADS to readers who enjoy memoirs and autobiographical stories, especially those featuring adoption or the foster system. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Silver Dagger Book Tours.