Public Employee Press

William Flores
Local 154 member

From foster care to giving care

In “The Foundling: Journey of a Street Child,” author William Flores describes his rise from the mean streets of Harlem.

By JANE LaTOUR

Author William Flores, a college teacher and city social work consultant, calls his book, “The Foundling,” a tale of “tragedy and triumph … an intimate look at some of the darkest times in the life of one abandoned and neglected child who turned to the streets for survival.”

Flores grew up in the city’s foster care system. The core of the book is the story of how he survived and escaped a world of violence and abuse to lead a life of service for others.

Flores put his experiences on paper so his six children and eight grandchildren would understand the life he led before his current career as a mental health expert and family man. He self-published the book in November.

Its pages tell movingly of a small asthmatic boy, cast away from his family, clinging for comfort to a sole possession — a toy fire truck with two bobbling firefighters — and enduring physical abuse, emotional neglect and isolation. “Street children will always be with us,” Flores said.

The scenes he witnessed and the abuse he experienced traumatized him and left him with a legacy of anger. The book captures his road to mental health and well-being, including an important intervention at the Mission of the Immaculate Virgin orphanage at Mount Loretto on Staten Island.

“I tried to be just like James Cagney, my hero,” the star of his favorite movie, “Angels with Dirty Faces.”

Now Flores works as a special consultant in the rehabilitation unit of the Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene. A member of DC 37’s Local 154, he has a master’s degree from Columbia University and is a licensed Certified Social Worker. He teaches undergraduates and graduate social work students at Columbia University and Hunter College, trying to pass on the sense of hope he got from his foster mother, Mattie.

“The compassion and empathy to reach out to others is more important than an advanced degree,” he said. “There are people in the system trying to help — people with humility and sensitivity to others. That’s what helps children survive a dysfunctional system.”