Alsip Mom Searching for Vintage ‘Winking Doll’ That Helped Her Survive Foster Care

ALSIP, IL -- A young mother from Alsip is searching for a nostalgic doll to give to her daughter for Christmas that brought her much comfort and joy as a child going through the foster care system.

Sandy Cundari was five years old when she and her younger sisters, then four and three, entered foster care after their parents were sentenced to long prison terms.

For a while, the three sisters were fostered together. Cundari’s youngest sister was separated for a time from the other two. Eventually, the three girls were reunited and adopted together by a couple who had a child of their own and three other adopted children.

It was during this period that Cundari, now 27, became attached to a Famosa Winking Doll. Manufactured in Spain by the famous toymaker, the winking doll was a sleeper hit in 1995. The doll came with varying hair colors and “15 different squints.”

Cundari doesn’t remember how or when she acquired the doll. She thinks one of her foster parents gave her the doll or had it around from other foster children.

“I was around seven,” Cundari remembers. “When you squeezed her stomach she’d wink. It stuck with me. It was a favorite doll that I always had. It made people laugh that I liked it.”

When Cundari was adopted, she was asked what belongings she would like to retrieve from prior foster homes. Naturally, she wanted her winking doll, but the doll was thrown out or given away.

“The doll I had was blond. I called her Lindsay,” Cundari said. “It’s something I grew up with that I remembered and it stuck with me.”

The doll that helped get Cundari through a rough patch of her childhood popped back into her mind when she had her own daughter, Haley, now three. It’s something she’d like to pass on. She’s recently taken to local Facebook groups to try to locate the vintage doll. She’d like one with blond hair just like her long lost Lindsay, to give to her daughter for Christmas.

“A friend remembers seeing the doll advertised on TV when we were kids,” Cundari said. "I know its a long shot. I want to get my daughter one."

Not everyone can weather such a rough start in life like the one Cundari and her sisters had to endure, holding on to each other as little girls in foster care. Their story had a happy ending thanks to their wonderful adoptive parents.

Today Cundari is married and working on her criminal justice degree at Governors State University while raising her own family. The funny winking doll with “15 different squints” has become a symbol of her survival.

“The doll was unique," Cundari said. "She helped me escape."

If you know of a Famosa Winking Doll, or have one in your basement, contact Patch editor Lorraine Swanson at lorraine.swanson@patch.com. All messages will be forwarded to Sandy Cundari.