Title: Birds on a Wire
Author: Katie Powner
Publisher: Kregel Publication
Release Date: April 21, 2026
Genre: Contemporary Christian Fiction
Book Blurb:
A deeply moving contemporary story about family and foster care from a two-time Christy Award-winning author.
When her newborn son, Providence, is taken by CPS, eighteen-year-old Bri Marshall is determined to do whatever's necessary to get him back—with or without Providence's father. But hurdles like no job, car, or family support complicate the process. Bri never expected to sink this low. What will it take to hold her baby in her arms again?
Thirty-nine-year-old Laura Gambler, facing the big 4-0, is managing new challenges with her own children when she's asked to take in baby Providence. She could never have imagined the chain of events that agreeing to foster would set in motion—or the carefully buried pain from her past it would drag back to the surface.
Both women wrestle with doubts about the future and their ability to parent Providence, even as their love for him grows stronger every day. As their lives become irrevocably intertwined, the two very different women face the same impossible question: Who is the best mother for Providence?
From Katie Powner:
I became a foster parent about ten years ago. At the time, we had three young kids at home, were in full-time ministry, and were homeschooling. To say foster care turned our lives upside down would be an understatement. It has changed the way I look at the world and has challenged me more than I could’ve thought possible. It has also shown me that people have many assumptions and misconceptions about foster care.
Many people believe foster parents are either saints with superhuman abilities or villains who are in it to abuse kids, take money from the state, or both. Many people also believe bio parents either don’t want their kids anymore or are heinous monsters. Or both. The truth is, most foster parents are just ordinary people who care about vulnerable children and want to help if they can. And most bio parents love their kids fiercely but are stuck in a cycle of dysfunction that is extremely difficult to get out of. I wrote Birds on a Wire with the desire to portray foster care in an honest way that will help people see what it’s really like.
I hope readers will open their hearts to this story and give it the chance to change their perspective.
Book Review:
Birds on a Wire, written by Katie Powner, brought the foster care system to life. Katie Powner portrayed such a beautiful picture of the foster care system, from the side of the parents and what they are going through, and the eyes of the foster parents trying to navigate what is best for the child. This story brought me to tears and touched my heart.
Bri is an eighteen-year-old mom. Who finds her baby taken away because she used drugs during pregnancy. Bri has had a hard life and now feels stuck where she is at. She desperately wants her son back, but her boyfriend and the people they hang around are not great influences. Though together they try everything they can to meet the requirements for baby Providence to come home.
Laura is about to turn forty and has signed up to be a foster care mother. She gets the call that there is a baby in need of a placement, but things could not be at a worse time. She has just decided to homeschool her son. But she accepts the placement.
My heart truly went out to both Bri and Laura. I was rooting for them both. It shows the bad, the lovely, and the hard of the foster care system.
*I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, which I received from the author. A positive review was not required. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.
Enter the giveaway below for a physical copy of Birds on a Wire by Katie Powner.
This one sounds like my kind of book.
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