Rob Mitchell's first-hand account of growing up in an orphanage seems entirely foreign in a day when such institutions have long been closed. It's hard to fathom an experience where one's earliest memory was of being left by his own mother with strangers at the orphanage.
As Rob's tragic tale unfolds, it is one of addiction and gut-wrenching abandonment time and again. With an absent father and a mother incapable of staying sober enough to care for him, Rob relied on the cobbled-together family at the children's home. And while staff did what they could to make up for the loss of parental love, it wasn't really the same. Bullied at the children's home, rejected by classmates, and never having a place that was his own home, Rob--not surprisingly--grew up to be an angry young man. The only bright spots in his life were phone calls from a grandmother and her occasional visits (that predictably decreased as she aged).
Throughout his life, Rob had various adults who offered love and support. He even later reconnected with his Dad's family, visiting them over the summer holidays. Every year he hoped that someone would choose to adopt him, but that never happened. It wasn't until adulthood that some of questions about his life were finally answered. Thankfully, God had planted people in his life to gently draw Rob toward spiritual truths. Truths about a loving God who wanted a relationship with Rob.
The book is ultimately one of hope. It offers the inspiring story of a boy who overcame tremendous odds to find himself a child of a loving God. As he had spent his whole life searching for a family to belong to, Rob found his own happy ending when he met the love of his life and had the opportunity to create the home that he had never experienced himself.
Rob's story is equal parts heartbreaking and inspirational. Ultimately, it points to the saving grace of a God who was patiently waiting for Rob to join HIS forever family. This would make an excellent book club selection to help better understand the struggles of children who have been affected by addiction. You can find a free discussion guide from Tyndale Press. And while we no longer have orphanages, our nation is faced with a crisis of addiction that has left countless children in the foster system. Castaway Kid is an incredible story that has the power to move families to consider opening their home to a child who longs for a place to belong.
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