A year with foster family a lifelong template for boy

By Lee Cataluna

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Dec 18, 2011

~~<p>Some days, the boy would go bounding into the sunlight with the kids he thought of as his brothers. Other days, he would retreat to the attic in his foster home to sob over his mother's pictures and her few remaining dresses. It was just a year, but those days shaped his whole life.</p>
<p>In 1983, Paul and Dottie Brennan welcomed a foster child into their Maunawili home. Over the years, they would take in 20 more, but Fred was their first. Paul, a Ph.D. in anthropology and linguistics, and Dottie, a teacher at Good Shepherd Preschool, had four sons of their own, ranging in age from 17 to 11. Dottie heard about Fred from another mom at Good Shepherd. The Brennan family, originally from the Midwest, had lived for a time in the jungles of New Guinea and were unafraid of new adventures.</p>
~~

Some days, the boy would go bounding into the sunlight with the kids he thought of as his brothers. Other days, he would retreat to the attic in his foster home to sob over his mother's pictures and her few remaining dresses. It was just a year, but those days shaped his whole life.

In 1983, Paul and Dottie Brennan welcomed a foster child into their Maunawili home. Over the years, they would take in 20 more, but Fred was their first. Paul, a Ph.D. in anthropology and linguistics, and Dottie, a teacher at Good Shepherd Preschool, had four sons of their own, ranging in age from 17 to 11. Dottie heard about Fred from another mom at Good Shepherd. The Brennan family, originally from the Midwest, had lived for a time in the jungles of New Guinea and were unafraid of new adventures. Login for more...