The Other Mother: A Woman’s Love for the Child She Gave Up, by Carol Schaefer is the very first adoption related book I had read. I was 18 years old and it was recommended to me by a family member who is also adopted.

It was this book that inspired me to search for my birth mother. When I finished reading it, there was a list of support groups in the back of the book. I believe there were five organizations listed with the closest to PA being in FL. It was this organization that provided me with information on a local search and support group that I had relied heavily on during my search for guidance and after finding a grave for emotional support.

It was this book that provided me with the strength that I knew I could search and that I could find. It was the courage in the book that helped me find the courage to initiate my own search and face everything that lied ahead of me throughout my search. Carol is an excellent author with many talents and The Other Mother is a definite treasure in the adoption community.

Based on a five star rating with five being the best and one being not so good, this book deserves 10 stars. Five just is not enough.

This book gives you an insight into the life of a Catholic "good girl" who becomes a young lady through the experience of giving up her son for adoption. This book also shows the attachment that comes with giving birth and being forced to give it up. No matter how old you are, or where you stand on adoption issues, you will be able to relate to Carol in her struggle to find the son that she relinquished to adoption.

This book is a must read for anyone in the adoption triad. It is a very emotional book for an adoptee to read. The birth mother is a real person - with real feelings - that has always loved her baby. It opens the door to the truth of adoption and to remember the person society says we need to forget - but cannot and should not.

I personally learned so much from reading Carol Schaefer's personal story and I benefited from it. This story really shows the psychological torture that birth mothers can experience, especially in situations where they really do not wish to give their children up for adoption, but are coerced. Recently, I have reread the book and as a perspective future adoptive mom I am convinced that we need to have some openness in the adoption journey that lies ahead for the sake of our future child and his or her birthmother.

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