Ellen Foster explores the attachments that form a family and operates on a marked contrast between the cultural image of the nuclear family and the many variations that may appear in reality. Ellen’s experiences with her birth family and her foster family prove that the associations of “family” do not rely on biology.

The judge who places Ellen in her grandmother’s custody because the family is “society’s cornerstone” (56) subscribes to the notion that a biological relationship inspires a sense of obligation or affection deeper and more powerful than other forms of relationship. He believes that two parents in a single household is the ideal environment for raising a child and will supply the security and nurturance a child requires to develop life skills. With Ellen’s father before him in police custody, the judge has ample evidence that, as Ellen ironically points out, her family is not the “Roman pillar” of society but “crumbly old brick” (56). In light of the information that Ellen’s grandmother in fact bears a great deal of hostility toward Ellen because of her father’s treatment of his wife, the judge’s decision is more cruel than wise.

Ellen’s father’s physical and sexual assault on her represents one of the ways that this supposedly “special” bond of family can be warped and abused.