“This book helps feel safe and loved!”
After searching for a way to help her foster kids understand why they couldn’t live with their mommy and daddy, Keri Vellis wrote children’s books that have provided comfort and hope to countless little ones
"Why can’t live with my mommy?” Keri Vellis’ heart broke as her young foster son looked up at her with wide, sad eyes. Putting her arm around him, Keri gave his shoulder a tight squeeze. “It’s nothing you did, honey,” she assured Michael. “You are a good boy.”
When Michael, then 2, and his 4-year-old sister, Katie, moved into the Vellis’ Santa Rosa, California, home in 2013, Keri knew she and her husband, Ted, could provide them with enough food and clothing. And lots of love and support.
I just wish there was some way I could help them understand what is going on and help heal their hearts, Keri thought as she rocked Michael to sleep.
Providing hope
Keri and Ted, a Sonoma County sheriff ’s deputy, hadn’t planned to become foster parents. But one night in 2007, Ted responded to a call where a little boy had tragically drowned in a bathtub while his mother did drugs in another room.
As Ted sat holding their own infant son that night, Keri could see his devastation— and a desire to do something sparked in her heart. “Someday, when the time is right, we will give a child in need a loving home,” she promised Ted.
With two daughters, ages 4 and 6, and their newborn son, Keri had her hands full for the next few years. But when her youngest entered kindergarten, Keri quit her job as a dental office manager and she and Ted became licensed in foster care. Soon after, they welcomed Michael and Katie.
Coming from a troubled home, the children had emotional and behavioral issues. The pair hid under the table and growled. They acted out. But it was the children’s sadness and fear that broke Keri’s heart. Figuring there were books on everything, Keri headed to the
bookstore to search out expert advice on helping foster kids understand their situation and how to provide them with comfort. The clerk handed her a book on fostering dogs. This isn’t right, Keri thought.
With patience and love, Keri and her family helped Michael and Katie heal, and, ultimately adopted them.
Wanting to help more children, Keri and Ted continued taking in foster children and even adopted another child in 2015, a drug-addicted infant, Sara. With each new child, the wish for a book that would help foster kids on their journey resurfaced, and one day in 2017, Keri decided to stop wishing and do something herself.
“I’m going to write a book,” she excitedly told Ted.
Healing hearts
To her amazement, once Keri made up her mind to write a book, the words flowed easily. In fact, she wrote it in just half an hour while sitting in her car waiting to pick up her kids after school.
When she told the kids, they laughed. But the car fell silent as she read. “When I was little, something bad happened to me. I was hurt, I was sad. I felt like I didn’t matter…but I was brave and started talking about what had happened to me, and I started to make new, happy memories.”
Keri contacted a publisher friend, who loved the idea and agreed to help her. And after finding an illustrator, Jin Lehr, a former foster child herself, soon Keri’s first book, Sometimes, was born.
As word spread throughout the foster care community, Keri’s book quickly became a must-read for social workers, foster parents and foster children.
It even caught the attention of Ellen Degeneres, who honored Keri in 2018 during her One Million Acts of Good program. Keri used the money she received from the show to launch her nonprofit, Keri’s Kids (Keriskids.net), to help distribute her books and raise awareness about the need for foster families.
Keri has since written a second book, When I Was Little, which helps children who’ve suffered abuse or trauma, and says she has ideas for more. One of the best feelings is when she gets a thank-you message from a foster child or when someone who went through the system tells her, “I wish I had this when I was little. It could have really helped me.” “All children deserve to feel loved and safe. I can’t think of a better thing I could do with my life,” she says. “I feel very lucky to be able to make a difference in so many children’s lives.”
“I feel very lucky to be able to make a difference in so many children’s lives”