Ashley Rhodes-Courter was born in North Carolina in 1985 and entered foster care in 1989. Over the next nine years, she lived in 14 placements before being adopted at age 12 by Phil and Gay Courter of Crystal River, Florida. By law, she had all the rights and privileges of any other American child, but her circumstances put her in a position where she had no parents, no home, and no voice for almost ten years. Many of her 14 foster homes were illegally overcrowded, one was extremely abusive, and two were modern orphanages serving troubled and dangerous children.