Foster Care, Family, and Social Class
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Rob Henderson was born to a drug-addicted mother and a father he never met, ultimately shuttling between ten different foster homes in California. When he was adopted into a loving family, he hoped that life would finally be stable and safe. Divorce, tragedy, poverty, and violence marked his adolescent and teen years, propelling Henderson to join the military upon completing high school.
His greatest achievements \\u2014 a military career, an undergraduate education from Yale, a PhD from Cambridge \\u2014 feel like hollow measures of success. He argues that stability at home is more important than external accomplishments, and he illustrates the ways the most privileged among us benefit from a set of social standards that actively harm the most vulnerable.
Shermer and Henderson discuss: hindsight bias \\u2022 genes, environment, luck, contingency \\u2022 foster care \\u2022 incarceration rates \\u2022 marriage, divorce, childhood outcomes \\u2022 poverty, welfare programs, and social safety nets \\u2022 the young male syndrome \\u2022 alcohol, drugs, depression \\u2022 luxury beliefs of educated elites \\u2022 wealthy but unstable homes vs. low-income but stable homes \\u2022 inequality \\u2022 Henderon's experience in the military, at Yale and Cambridge \\u2022 the Warrior-Scholar Project.
Rob Henderson grew up in foster homes in Los Angeles and the rural town of Red Bluff, California. He joined the US Air Force at the age of seventeen. Once described as \\u201cself-made\\u201d by the New York Times, Rob subsequently received a BS from Yale University and a PhD in psychology from St. Catharine\\u2019s College, Cambridge. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and more. His weekly newsletter is sent to more than forty thousand subscribers. Learn more at RobKHenderson.com. His new book is Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class.
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