Summary

Chapter 8 is titled “Empty Emancipation,” and it covers November of 1980 through the summer of 1984. Ms. Davis told Camille and Regina she would begin equipping them to live on their own, since emancipation meant they would age out of the system at age eighteen. She mentioned college, but then she said, “I have yet to see a foster kid go to college” (154). Regina elicited a promise that Ms. Davis would do everything in her power to keep Rose and Norm away from Cookie, then she and Camille signed the emancipation affidavit.

Camille and Regina soon chafed under the Petermans' strict rules, which included when they could eat. Regina made friends but never revealed the truth about herself. They thought she lived with an aunt. The Petermans agreed that Regina and Camille could remain with them. A new social worker, Ms. Harvey, was uncooperative with their...