Garbage Bag Girl, by Celeste L. Edmunds and Richard Paul Evans, Ascendt Publishing 2023, 135 pages. Paperback, $14.95
At age 7, Celeste Edmunds entered the state’s foster care system. She spent the next nine years moving from family to family, and home to home. She carried her belongings in a garbage bag and lived in more than 30 cities by the age of 16.
Co-authored with Richard Paul Evans, her memoir, “Garbage Bag Girl” is the story of resilience and hope. It is also a heartbreaking account of her childhood that was often filled with abuse and neglect.
“My goal is to help as many children as possible in the child welfare system and help to ensure that they have the opportunities for success that I was not provided.”
Surviving her parents addiction, ongoing fights, sexual and physical abuse, being adopted by a sadistic mother and fighting to stay connected to her younger siblings, Edmunds rose against the odds and survived.
When a compassionate woman offered Celeste a home by saying, “Home is where they have to keep you.” Edmunds was a high school dropout. It was the first time she felt supported and nurtured.
She dedicated her book to the woman, Carlie, who she considers to be her mom. Carlie eventually adopted Edmunds and didn’t know the book would be dedicated to her. Edmunds said without the influence of Carlie and other people who believed in her, she would have ended up incarcerated or dead.
In the forward to “Garbage Bag Girl,” Evans writes, “I believe that ‘Garbage Bag Girl’ should be required reading for every parent, foster parent, child welfare worker, and schoolteacher; in short, everyone who advocates and cares for the children of the world.”