Safe: A Memoir of Fatherhood, Foster Care, and the Risks We Take for Family

Daley, a former communications director for Hillary Clinton, debuts with a heartbreaking memoir about foster parenting. Daley and his husband, Jason, got married in 2015 and were eager to have children. After considering surrogacy, they changed course when a friend shared her experiences growing up in foster care, spurring the couple to look into becoming foster parents. Soon after getting approval from Los Angeles County, Daley and Jason welcomed brothers Ethan (13 months old) and Logan (three months) into their home. Despite inconsistent visits from the boys’ birth parents, who struggled with substance use and neglected the brothers in the early months of their lives, an appeals court ruled that Ethan and Logan had to be returned to their biological family after just a year and a half with Daley and Jason. The bulk of the narrative details the couple’s unsuccessful efforts to regain custody of the boys; eventually, they adopted three siblings in 2020. (“Does this story have a happy ending?” Daley writes in the conclusion. “Yes and no.”) Across the memoir’s middle stretch, Daley lets his frustrations with the foster system fly, yet he manages to do so without compromising his strikingly compassionate tone. The result is a gripping and earnest examination of the meaning of family. Agent: Lara Love Hardin, True Literary. (Jan.)