She was also pregnant. When her boyfriend’s family opposed their marrying, her parents sequestered her in a Catholic home for unwed mothers a state away, where she was isolated and where secrecy prevailed. She had only to give up her baby for her sin to be forgiven and then all would soon be forgotten she was told. The child, in turn, would be placed with a “good” family, instead of having his life ruined by the stigma of illegitimacy. Carol tried to find the strength to oppose this dogma but her shame had become too deep. “The first time I looked deep into my son’s eyes, I felt like a criminal. As I unwrapped his hospital blanket and took in the heady fragrance of a newborn, I feared the nurses or the sisters would come in and slap me for contaminating my own son.” Finding no way out, she signed the fateful papers leaving her son in the hands of strangers, but with a vow to her baby she would find him one day. For years, Carol struggled to forget and live the “normal” life promised, not understanding the consequences of the trauma she’d endured. On his eighteenth birthday, she set out to find him, although the law denied access to records. Her search became a spiritual quest to reclaim her own lost self, as she came to understand the emotional and psychological wounds she and other mothers like her had endured. Against all odds she succeeded in finding him and discovered that in many ways they had never really been apart. With her son’s encouragement and his adoptive mother’s cooperation, she tells their story.

    The bad ranges from those little lies, that one shoplifting episode, loving the wrong guy or gal, to a major problem with drinking and drugging, or suicidal depression.Looking for helpful advice is like thumbing the dictionary hoping you will find a word you need but don't know how to spell. If you are lucky you will stumble on what you need.What can a parent do? Check out the credentials of the advice givers. Most fall into two categories: parents who have raised a child or two or more and therapists who work with disturbed children and their parents. Each offer advice that works some of the time for some parents and some children, but each also falls short for too many parents and too many children.One offers the best of both—Katherine Gordy Levine.Katherine Gordy Levine is a certified counselor, mother of two and over a period of 12 years was foster parent to almost 400 troubled teenagers. Her wealth of experience is shared with humor and angst in examples throughout this engaging page-turner.Effect real change in the behavior of your adolescent with the adaptable techniques you'll find in this book.