Ward of the Court

Born with every imaginable strike against her, Adonis Blu's life began in chaos-and never stopped testing her. Before she took her first breath, her mother tried to abort her. She arrived three months early, a fragile "miracle baby" seized by the Louisiana Department of Children & Family Services and shuffled between relatives. By age six, both of her birth parents had been murdered. She was an orphan. Raised in New Orleans, Blu's childhood was marked by instability, violence, and survival. Expelled from multiple schools for fighting bullies, she lost best friends to tragedy and was betrayed by men she mistook for protectors. Her story unfolds in the vernacular of her youth-raw, unfiltered, and unforgettable. In the latter pages, Blu recounts surviving Hurricane Katrina: a city swallowed by darkness, nights without a glimmer of light, rising waters, and people stranded with no food or water. Through it all, she endured. She triumphed. She earned a bachelor's degree in forensic science chemistry and a master's degree in human science-and reclaimed her voice. Ward of the Court is a frank, fearless memoir of trauma, resilience, and transformation. It is a testimony for anyone who's ever been told they wouldn't make it-and a beacon for those still fighting to survive.