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According to research, there are roughly 400,000 U.S. children who are in the foster care system and approximately 100,000 are waiting to be adopted. Purposely Awakened‘s Samantha Pounds, recently sat down with Hazel Walcott author of The Choice which is an inspirational story about a young girl who lives in an orphanage and is waiting to get adopted.
Although The Choice is a fictional story, it runs true with many children in the U.S. who are dealing with the uncertainty of being adopted and what that process is like for many children.
Tell our readers a little bit about yourself and how The Choice came about.
I currently work for the department of the Navy. I decided I wanted more and at the time when I began writing the book, my daughter was struggling with reading and I was also struggling with a supervisor at the time. I began praying and I got a premonition about the book and the story and it went from there.
I believe premonitions are very important. What exactly was your premonition in regards to your book?
The story is about a little girl in an orphanage. For many years the little girl did not understand why she was in an orphanage or why her mother left her there.
Tell our readers about the process for writing the book. Did you know anyone growing up who was in an orphanage?
Actually, I did not know anyone who was in an orphanage. As I was writing, the story just flowed about a young girl who was left in an orphanage and she became very frustrated. The owner of the orphanage would tell the young girl not to worry and that God would bring the right family to her.
This book seems very impactful for parents and young children. Have you been able to broadcast your message to the community?
Right now, I’m working with churches in the community that I live in to get the message across. I think it’s really important to get this message out to parents who are considering adopting or who have adopted children. One of the things I was thinking about when writing the story especially for parents is if you have a child who is rebelling, don’t just give up or give them back. You have to figure out the underlining issue or why they are upset. This story really speaks to that.
It seems that you have a few themes for the book including frustration and oftentimes what that means for children. What are some other themes you deal with in the book?
Bullying. The main character has been in the orphanage for some time and she’s dealt with a tremendous amount of bullying. There are so many things children who are left in orphanages deal with including seclusion and identity crisis. I was able to pull all of these elements when I was writing the book.
What are some other goals you have in place to continue spreading the message of this story?
I want to have the opportunity to create a workbook alongside the book to have in classrooms where children can work through and understand that you shouldn’t treat someone differently because they have a different background or have certain features.
So, what’s next for you? Can we expect a series or a follow up story?
Actually yes! I just finished the second back where the main character has finally been adopted. Now that she’s been adopted, she is now feeling unsure or if it was a right choice. I’ll leave you with that (laughs).
The Choice is available on Amazon to read for free!
Follow Hazel Walcott on her social media pages:
Facebook: HazelWalcottAuthor
Instagram: HazelWalcott.Author
Twitter: Hazel_Walcott
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