Vanessa Diffenbaugh

“I am not only the person who wrote and sold a novel while raising a houseful of biological and foster children; I am also the person who wrote a horrific young adult novel that never sold and gave up on a foster child I couldn't handle - an experience that still haunts me.”

“I'm missing work. We didn't have enough money for preschool. I had a panic attack. I couldn't do it. I became one of those horrible foster parents who give the kids back.”

“The names of common flowers change from decade to decade, so I spent a lot of time with old outdated dictionaries, with awful flower names like 'mouse-eared chickweed.'”

“We were pressured to accept kids we were not qualified to handle. And we do that to people all the time, which is why we don't have enough foster parents.”

“I'm very interested in getting inside the heads of people society discards, people on the fringe, especially immigrant kids. We dismiss them without getting into details of who they are.”

“Hyacinth. Please forgive me.”

“I don't think there is anything magical about the language of flowers in real life or in my book.”

“The most violent and troubling stories become part of our national consciousness about foster care.”

“We can become anyone we want to become. It takes focusing on the aspect of ourselves we want to change and reflecting on the beliefs that cause us to act in ways that are counter to the change we seek.”

“My last book, 'The Language of Flowers,' I wrote completely on naptime, when my little kids were asleep.”

“There aren't always, especially in low-income communities, the arts and the dance and the drama and the things that can really show a kid, 'Look, even if I'm three years behind in math, there's something I'm good at that can help me be successful in life.'”

“As a college student, I worked as a mentor, and that got me involved in working with young people long before I became a foster parent.”

“This time, there was no escape, I could not turn away, could not leave without accepting what I had done. There was only one way to the other side, and that was through the pain.”

“I've worked with homeless kids, kids in foster care, and I've never met a kid who couldn't be reached.”

“Anyone can grow into something beautiful.”

“The Victorian language of flowers began with the publication of 'Le Language des Fleurs,' written by Charlotte de Latour and printed in Paris in 1819. To create the book - which was a list of flowers and their meanings - de Latour gathered references to flower symbolism throughout poetry, ancient mythology, and even medicine.”

“First drafts are never any good - at least, mine aren't.”

“There was only one way to the other side, and that was through the pain.”

“My husband and I vowed that after we married and settled down, we would become foster parents - a vow we kept and one that has enriched our lives greatly.”

“Nothing you could do would make me send you away. Nothing.”