It can be a huge help to parents considering the adoption of an older child, when college is just a few years away, to know that there are post-adoption resources and specific financial assistance opportunities available to them.

No child should be raised in a system. A system isn't a parent. Even the system knows this, which is why the Children and Family Services Division puts so much effort into finding permanent homes for the kids who are never going to be reunited with their birth parents.

Kids who enter 'adulthood' without any strong attachments to people who know and care about them have a rough road ahead, to say the least.

The financial assistance is available. We are eager to help them, not only financially, but from a counseling standpoint, so we can try to make the process as easy as possible.

Lots of kids, including my son, have trouble making the leap from reading words or a few sentences in picture books to chapter books. Chapters are often long... 10 pages can seem like a lifetime to a young reader. Then reading becomes laborious and serious. That's why some of the chapters in my books are very short.

When your parents do so much to help get you through college, it's a nice bonus.