Despite growing up in the volatile world of foster care, Tori Hope Peterson ‘18 beat the odds — she explains how she did it in her new book, “Fostered: One Woman’s Powerful Story of Finding Faith and Family through Foster Care.” 

“It’s my story,” said Petersen, whose memoir was published Aug. 30. “It’s that story of coming from a really hard place of trauma and fear to an unlikely success, an unlikely joy and happiness, and finding the Lord. All these things were unlikely, but because of the church and because of people, it was made possible. I hope that when people read the book they are encouraged to be professional lovers of people above all else.” 

Petersen said she first considered becoming a writer after receiving positive feedback on a travel blog she kept while on a mission trip in Ethiopia in 2015. After years of sharing her testimony on social media, Petersen decided to write a memoir. 

“Social media can be gone tomorrow,” Petersen said. “I wanted something that solidified in a tangible way the message that I was trying to communicate.” 

Petersen began writing “Fostered” and sending proposals to literary agents three years ago. She was rejected more than 50 times, including by Wolgemuth & Associates, a Colorado-based agency, which currently represents her. 

“It can be hard to sell a project from a first-time author and someone who is not well known,” said Austin Wilson, Petersen’s agent at Wolgemuth & Associates. “Tori didn’t have much of a platform initially. She only had a small Instagram following at the time.” 

Petersen, however, was determined to get her memoir published with or without an agent. 

On Nov. 17, 2020, B&H Publishing, a branch of LifeWay Christian Resources, reached out to her with a book deal. Wolgemuth & Associates took her on as a client a few weeks later. 

“She is a go-getter. She is going to do whatever it takes to make things happen,” Wilson said. “She has done an excellent job hitting deadlines and pulling together a great manuscript. Her virtual platform has grown significantly since she initially pitched to us.” 

Petersen first entered the foster care system when she was 3 due to her mother’s mental illness. She was reunited with her mother before reentering the system as a 12 year old. Petersen lived in 12 different homes during her time in foster care. 

“The overarching feeling was that I didn’t belong,” Petersen said. “Most foster homes were typical homes that were taking in kids. I do think they were trying to take care of us, but it was still hard to live through. You always know that you are not fully a part of the family.”  

It wasn’t until Petersen found Christ that she felt a sense of belonging.

“I have always felt very lost in my identity,” Petersen said. “And then I was welcomed into the church and my church’s slogan is ‘A family for the broken’— and that’s just how I felt. I wanted a family so bad, but also felt like I was so broken and no one wanted me. For them to have this message made me realize this is where I belong.” 

For a long time, however, Petersen said she was an atheist. She could not understand how a loving God could allow the evil that she experienced in some of her foster homes. 

“I was very mad at God,” Petersen said. “I didn’t understand how this God could be so loving and good, but my foster parents abused their kids behind closed doors. I didn’t want anything to do with God because of that.” 

Petersen said she was fortunate to have Christians in her life who encouraged her to build a relationship with Christ, but that it was one woman at her church–Tonya—who truly transformed her life. 

“She started a small group at her house for girls who had come from hard places,” Petersen said. “One time during a small group, I asked her why we weren’t studying the Bible. She said that sometimes you don’t just have to tell people about Jesus, but you have to show them Jesus.”

Petersen said her high school track coach also supported her and helped to pave the way for her athletic career at Hillsdale. According to Petersen, foster youth have only a 3% chance of earning a bachelor’s degree. 

“He was like the father figure that I always wanted,” Petersen said. “He mentored me and that year I became a four time state champion in track-and-field.” 

Petersen said her memoir is a testament to the role that friends and mentors have played in her life. 

“I get the honor for this story, but it is really the story of a lot of people in the church who loved me well — someone who grew up on the margins, someone who grew up in foster care,” Petersen said. “People said that I was a bad kid and there was a church that said we are going to love her anyway, pour into her, and encourage her.” 

Since marrying her husband in 2018, Peterson has become a foster, adoptive, and biological mother. She and her husband also do kinship care for Petersen’s younger sister, whom she was separated from in the foster care system. 

“It’s very important to me and my husband that we raise our kids to be inclusive,” Petersen said. “We really want our children to have compassion for people and we want to be a family that really doesn’t have any prerequisites on what family necessarily is.” 

In addition to her personal experience, “Fostered” includes Peterson’s reflections on the foster care system and reforms she thinks could fix it. 

“Tori provides a really helpful critique of the system and how it works,” Wilson said. “I think it’s gonna be a really helpful book for foster parents and for those who work closely with foster youth who are trying to change the system in helpful ways.”

One of the greatest challenges facing foster children is the case files they receive upon entering the foster care system, according to Petersen. These files include the worst things that a child has done as well as the worst things that have happened to them. Due to the large volume of paperwork civil servants must process, and the input of birth parents who often suffer from mental illness and addiction, these files can contain inaccuracies and exaggerations, Peterson said. 

“We know that first impressions are really important,” Petersen said. “When foster youth come into a home, they have to dig themselves out of a 70-foot hole because of their files. And kids are so malleable; the way that we view them is going to greatly affect the way they view themselves.”  

Hillsdale students said they connect with Hope as a Hillsdale alumna and want to read her book.

“I am really excited to read Tori Hope Peterson’s book and learn about her experiences in the foster care system,” Hillsdale junior Claire Hipkins said. “I am sure it will grow her readers’ compassion for foster children.” 

“Fostered” is set to be a hit, Wilson said. It was so popular in pre-release that B&H Publishing extended pre-order availability to Canada and Australia. The memoir has had so many pre-orders that it is expected to be temporarily out-of-stock upon its release. 

“I think the timing with Roe v. Wade has something to do with its success,” Wilson said. “The pro-life conversation is front and center on people’s minds and people are looking for stories coming out of foster care. Tori really answers some of the difficult questions that people have regarding this conversation.”