Robert Henderson

Foster child Robert Henderson reflects on his account of his challenging early life, how he overcame it to join the US Air Force and attend elite universities and on the hypocrisies of social class.

Henderson is the child of drug-addicted parents he never met. He shuttled between 10 different foster families, and his adolescent years were marked by tragedy, poverty and violence. Henderson explains how he finally found an escape route by enlisting in the military. It changed his fortunes and led to him receiving degrees at Yale and Cambridge universities. He reflects on the fate of friends who ended up on drugs, in prison or met untimely deaths and on the hypocrisies of social class that he says lead to the most privileged benefiting from ‘luxury beliefs’ that actively harm the most vulnerable.

Henderson grew up in California and joined the air force at 17. He has a BS in psychology from Yale University and a PhD in psychology from St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge. He has written for New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and New York Post.