Constant companion

* "Fred Stays With Me," written by Nancy Coffelt, illustrated by Tricia Tusa (June, 2007).
The heroine of this sweetly illustrated picture book copes with the challenge of shuttling between the homes of her divorced parents. The only constant is Fred, the girl's loyal dog... (source)

I'm all for dogs, love them (as long as they're real dogs, not little yippy things), can't wait for the baby dog. But isn't it kind of sad that the only constant in this little fictional girl's life is her dog? The image I get is of a foster child, bounced from home to home, clinging to the one familiar object he or she totes along to every house. Why oh why should a child with parents who are not abusive or on drugs or otherwise unfit to parent have to live under the same conditions? Ironically, we know this kind of instability is bad for foster kids and the system works hard to either reunite them with their families or to sever parental rights and place them permanently with an adoptive family. Too bad we can't work hard to achieve the same kind of stable environment for children of divorce.