Carol Schaefer
Author
SEARCHING ...
"I had come to understand by working with my therapist, Toni, that when we commit to search and reunion we commit to transformation, that we are not simply in the process of searching for and reuniting with a lost child or family, we are also searching within ourselves and reuniting with a long denied part of our identities. The paradox is that we are shattered and we are also whole; we need to find each other but the answers to our healing are all within." (Excerpt from Searching ...)
"Searching ... chronicles Carol Schaefer's 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 rare insights on the impact adoption has on everyone involved, including her son's father by birth and his wife and her grandchildren. Carol is a gifted and eloquent writer. Searching … is one person's story, but it gives us a lens with which to see the complexity and challenges that adoption brings to everyone that it touches. This book should be required for all who live and work in the world of adoption. Dr. Joyce Maguire Pavao Lecturer in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Founder and Director of Riverside AACT (After Adoption Consulting and Training)
"Searching ... is an exciting new book, and the title is appropriate on many levels. The author gives wonderful insight into the expectations and misunderstandings that derail reunions. Not only do we need to keep searching for ways to make reunions gratifying for everyone concerned, but we would also do well to follow Carol's example of finding meaning in what we do. I highly recommend this book to everyone in the adoption community and beyond." Nancy Verrier, MFT, Author of The Primal Wound and Coming Home to Self
“Carol Schaefer’s new book is wonderfully written and genuinely important. It is certainly about adoption, but it is much more than that; it transcends one person’s journey to provide insights into the human experience.” Adam Pertman, Author of Adoption Nation and past President of the Donaldson Adoption Institute
Carol's "Searching..." at times took my breath away, had me smiling, crying, cheering and more. It not only validated many things for me, it also gave me hope for the future, as I am only five years into knowing my son and his family. Susan Gill
“A wonderful journey of post reunion … a must for anyone in reunion … “ Valerie Andrews, Origins Adoption Canada