A life against the odds

Bridge is keenly aware that most of the stories we hear about foster children are extreme (for example, the television show "Dexter," about a psychopathic former foster child). "We demonize the mentally ill and vulnerable in this country. Rarely do we hear about the gifted and talented kids who beat the soul-deadening system, much less the quiet, lonely kids somewhere in the middle."

He is full of ideas for changing this, including a proposed set of federal incentives and rewards for kids in foster care who get good grades and for their foster parents. Under his leadership, the alliance established the Health Care Partnership for children, a consortium of Los Angeles hospitals working together to provide assistance to homeless children. He was a force behind the establishment of National Adoption Day; Los Angeles Appleseed, a public-interest law center; and the New Village Charter School, a Los Angeles college preparatory academy focusing on the needs of girls in the foster care system or in care of the state.

Bridge, who now lives in New York City, has visited his mother several times in the Arizona facility where she lives. On a recent visit, he took his mother to a local drugstore to buy nail polish and lipstick. He was delighted when -- after the cumulative effects of her illness, various drug treatments and neglect -- some of her old vanity rekindled. She insisted not only on a certain shade of red but also that the lipstick and polish matched.

I ask him about some of the lasting effects of his childhood experiences, and he admits to a certain hyper-vigilance, a constant need to stay oriented and a constant awareness of the moods and feelings of those around him. Some of this has helped him in his work. The kids and women he talks to tend to trust him, in spite of differences in dress and appearance and perceived social status. This trust is a source of delight for Bridge.

"My mother lost everything a human being can lose," he says, telling me about one visit to his mother at a facility in which all of her teeth had been removed, probably to save money on further dental expenses. Bridge spent years not talking about his mother -- "she was too special to me. I didn't want people judging her." But he was encouraged by co-workers and friends and by his editor for this book at Hyperion.

"I wanted to write it while she was still alive," he says, though he does not think she will ever read it. "I love this woman more than anything," he says, quoting a line in the book: "her arms challenge every subsequent embrace."

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susan.reynolds@latimes.com

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Andrew Bridge

book signing

Where: Vroman's Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena

When: 7 p.m. today

Contact: (626) 449-5320; vromansbookstore.com