Sixty years ago, I was living at home and going to college when my mother started taking in foster children.

We soon had an 18-month-old boy and a 3-year-old girl who had been separated from their 13-year-old sister, their primary caregiver. They were separated from her because the mother had been taking the girl out on “dates” and the 13-year-old was now pregnant.

The boy Stevie seemed fairly normal although he didn’t talk and would cling to his sister. The 3-year-old, Joey, was rigid and frozen, as if life had hurt her badly. It was my first experience with damaged babies, and I’ve never forgotten it.

There is something we could do now to start giving aid when it is needed most: Build healthy communities and stop the loss of our children to drugs and violence. It’s a small levy on the King County ballot called Proposition 1, put forward by the King County Executive Dow Constantine and placed on the ballot with the overwhelming support of the King County Council.

Best Starts For Kids has been endorsed by the Federal Way school board, King County Sheriff John Urquhart, Auburn Youth Resources, Communities in Schools of Kent, King County Democrats, Puget Sound Educational Service District, South King Council of Human Services, United Way of King County and many others of our neighbors because there is solid evidence that the program works.

I haven’t seen much in Federal Way on Best Starts For Kids. Please read about this issue before you vote in November. Thank You.

Dorothy Burt, Federal Way