My Temporary Home is a heartfelt story about Lily, a young girl placed in foster care after being removed from her unstable home. Through Lily's eyes, readers witness the confusion, loneliness, and emotional weight that children in the foster system often carry. Though she is now in a safer environment, Lily must learn to navigate the unfamiliar silence of stability and begin her journey toward healing. The book is a tender, emotionally honest exploration of trauma, resilience, and the search for belonging-and it's inspired by my own experiences growing up in foster care in the Bronx. The message behind My Temporary Home is urgently relevant today. With so many children still caught in cycles of trauma, neglect, and displacement, this story gives voice to their silent struggles.
In a world that often overlooks the emotional lives of foster youth, this book reminds us that behind every case file is a child just trying to feel safe, seen, and loved. It encourages readers-parents, educators, social workers, and kids-to have deeper empathy and more honest conversations about healing and home. Rodriguez wrote My Temporary Home not just for the children still caught in the system, but also for the adults who grew up in it and never got the chance to tell their stories. It's a reflection of who she is, where she's been, and the love she is determined to pour into the world-one page, one person, one purpose at a time.
About the Author
Raquel Rodriguez, known by as Roxii, was raised in the Bronx, where she spent her entire childhood in foster care until she aged out at eighteen. That experience-being moved from home to home, carrying her whole life in a trash bag, and learning to survive in chaos-shaped Rodriguez into who she is and planted the seeds for the work that she does today.
Now, she lives in Virginia and serves as a Housing Liaison with Creative Pathways Inc, helping individuals and families find stable, affordable housing-often when they're at their lowest point. It's more than a job to Rodriguez-it's a calling. She knows what it's like to feel displaced, to be overlooked, and to not have a voice. That's why she's made it her mission to be that voice for others and help them find not just shelter, but dignity, safety, and hope. Outside of her professional work, she is also a single mom to beautiful children who are the heart of her world and the reason she continues to push forward.
Additionally, she is the founder and future owner of Raven's Market, a minority woman-owned grocery store in Hartford, Connecticut. Raven's Market is being built with the same heart as her book: to serve the underserved, nourish the community, and create a space where everyone belongs. When Rodriguez isn't working or writing, you can usually find her spending time with her kids, catching up on true-crime shows, love cooking big meals, dreaming up ways to uplift others, and using her story to inspire change.
