Carol Schaefer's career as an author originated from tragedy. After finding the son she'd been coerced to give up for adoption in 1966, while hidden away in a Catholic home for unwed mothers, she felt compelled to tell her story, one that over a million and a half women share. Since its publication in 1991, The Other Mother: A Woman's Love for the child She Gave Up for Adoption has been a catalyst for healing not only for the mothers but also for their children who were adopted, especially those who never realized their mothers thought about them let alone always loved them. Adoptive parents, as well, found healing as they faced the truth of their child's other mother.

Adapted as a television movie by NBC in 1995, The Other Mother, starring Frances Fisher, scored high in the ratings with 25 million viewers. Acquired by the Lifetime Channel, the movie aired many times from 2000 to 2008. The book was listed in 500 Great Books by Women, a Penguin Groups Readers Guide, a list that goes back to the eleventh century.

Her sequel to The Other Mother, entitled Searching ... (2014), chronicles her remarkable, creative and healing journey as she forges a lasting relationship with the son she placed for adoption, as well as with his adoptive family, in the aftermath of their reunion. In her attempts to reconcile her loss and its effects on her relationship with her parents, siblings and the two sons she raised, she offers insights on the impact adoption has on everyone involved, including her son's father by birth and his wife and her grandchildren - insights she hopes will inspire others on their own complex and challenging healing journey.

Schaefer has appeared on Good Morning America, CNN, MSNBC, and many local television and radio programs around the country and in Canada, including New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. She has often been a keynote speaker and given numerous workshops at adoption conferences. She has also facilitated TRIAD support groups for seventeen years, in San Francisco and New York City.

Her book, Grandmothers Counsel the World: Women Elders Offer Their Vision for Our Planet (Shambhala, 2006) has been translated into twelve languages. In 2002, Schaefer was commissioned by Crossroads Publishers to write a short spiritual biography of Mary Queen of Scots, which she's adapted into a full-length screenplay. Her play, The Sacred Virgin, had a three-month run in 2002 at the Thirteenth Street Repertory Company in New York City.

Schaefer earned her B.A. in Psychology from Winthrop University, where she was selected for Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities.