By RON GOWER

rgower@tnonline.comI don't know Brandi Barbera, but I worry about her. I wonder what kind of a life she will live. Does she even have a chance of being a success? Theoretically, I guess, she does. I sure hope so.Brandi is 10 years old. On Tuesday, she went missing from a foster home in Summit Hill, where she had been a resident for about three weeks.Rescue workers searching for her were told that she was mentally challenged. Her foster father said she was combative.The temperature was in the upper 80s and very humid. Brandi took medicines which made her more susceptible to dehydration.Many people from various emergency service agencies went looking for Brandi. People left their homes and searched the streets of Summit Hill for her.That's what is wonderful about living in a small town. Most people still look out for each other in a time of crisis.Brandi was found in about three hours. She was crying. She was shaken.Now what?Was she returned to the foster home from which she escaped? Was she sent to another foster home? How many foster homes has she already been housed in?Brandi is in a home, but it isn't her home. While many foster parents are loving, many aren't. This isn't to imply that the people keeping Brandi aren't loving.But it is obvious this isn't her first rodeo. While most of us wake up every morning to the comforts of our home and family, foster children are in a house of strangers, trying to cope as best they can.In many cases, foster services are run by profitable agencies. We all know what money can do.I have no idea if Brandi came from an agency or from social services. All I know is I had a sad feeling when I left her, wondering what is going to happen now.There are millions of Brandis in the world, moving from one house to another. There's probably not a better system for dealing with difficult cases involving children.It's better than the old orphanage system. But for children like Brandi, this system doesn't offer much of a future unless they are fortunate enough to find a couple who will eventually adopt them, if they aren't first returned to their original living environment.Agreed. There are many successful foster stories. So far, it doesn't appear that Brandi will be one of them. Hopefully I'm wrong.When she was being questioned by rescue workers who incidentally, showed incredible compassion she seemed so alone, so helpless and so sad.I started my article out stating that the search had a "happy ending" because she was found unharmed. Her condition was important because there are a lot of wooded areas and dangerous mine pits in the area.Is it really a happy ending?We'll probably never know what the end result is for Brandi. All we can do is hope and pray that she gets lucky and finds a loving family somewhere.Seeing her sitting with the search team, speaking, crying and shaking would have made a great poster or commercial for the foster care program.Real life doesn't have happy endings like the movies do.Good luck, Brandi, wherever you are.