AustLit

'In 1961, at the age of two, Rosalie Fraser was taken from her Aboriginal family by the Western Australian Child Welfare Department and made a ward of the state. Together with her sister Beverly, she was fostered to a family named Kelly. For years, Rosalie suffered physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her foster mother. When the abuse got too much Rosalie ran away, but her foster mother was always able to coax her back. Rosalie finally left the Kelly family for good when she met a young Aboriginal man called Stan, whom she later married.
Reunited with her sister in an emotional encounter, they decided to trace their birth mother. Although they found her, tragically for Rosalie, the separation had been too great. Despite the abuse, Mrs. Kelly remained the only mother she ever really knew. But after Mrs. Kelly's death, Rosalie realised she needed to come to terms with her traumatic childhood. Against the odds, she has built a happy family life of her own, overcome a literacy problem and written a memoir, Shadow Child'. (Libraries Australia).