Family Life and Foster Care
The eldest of three children, Kingsley was born in Denver, Colorado, to Rachel Kingsley and Ralph Kingsley, Sr., who became estranged from his family, giving Rachel Kingsley custodial rights. Gregory's two younger brothers, Jeremiah and Zachary, remained with their mother, but Gregory went to live with his father, who forbid him to have any contact with them. Eventually, Gregory was reunited with his mother and two siblings; however, his mother's drug use prevented her from parenting, and so she voluntarily put her two oldest sons into foster care in 1990. Gregory was placed in a boys shelter, where he met and befriended George H. Russ, who had first come to the shelter as a member of a government commission exploring the "needs of children". He was a father and an attorney, and he empathized with Gregory, having had an unhappy childhood himself. In October 1991, he and his wife Lizabeth agreed to adopt Gregory, bringing him to live with their eight biological children.
Read more about this topic: Gregory Kingsley
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