Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey: A Foster Kid's Road to Success with Robert P K Mooney

A Foster Kid's Road to Success with Robert P K Mooney

Jan 26, 2021

My name is Robert P.K. Mooney. My friends call me Rob.

I grew up all around Oahu, Hawaii, and throughout Utah. From age six until eighteen, I was a foster kid, changing homes twenty times between Oahu and Utah. How did a foster kid from Hawaii end up in Utah? After my siblings and I went into state custody, my mother developed cancer and died. Before she passed away, she asked the state of Hawaii to transfer her children to Utah where she had family. And so, on my eighth birthday, I moved to Utah.

As a foster kid, three things helped me cope with the trauma of abuse, neglect, death of beloved family members, and the lack of stability inherent to twenty home changes.

athletics
music
my imagination

In each of those, I could leave the pain and loneliness of my life and take my mind and heart to another place. I read books and watched movies to take me away. The Hardy Boys, Tolkien, Goonies, Tim Burton’s Batman, even Disney’s The Little Mermaid, and my own mind and vivid dreams – they all took me to places that kept me safe.

Eventually, I decided that more than anything, I wanted my own family. I tried to become the type of person that an amazing woman would want to be with (that’s still a work in process). In college, I got married and started a family of my own. I was determined to ensure that my wife and children never had to endure the abuse and neglect that my mother and siblings had to. So, I threw my efforts into providing for them – I got a finance degree, and then a couple of law degrees and became a very successful lawyer.

My legal career led me to courtrooms across the country and culminated with me serving as the General Counsel for one of the largest pet health and wellness companies in the United States. For the last three years of my career, I was recognized internationally as one of the world’s leading intellectual property strategists. In 2019, I left the practice of law so that I could spend more time with my young family (with five children ranging in ages from eighteen to newly born) and write books – inspirational books to help foster kids choose a successful life, and novels to entertain youth and adults.