"But then, even then, are the twists and turns of the path we chose prevalent because from one single act of love a life is conceived and a new journey begins."

Love will always find a way in Frederick E. Hoff's touching new book, "Guiding Crosses."

Based on the shocking true story, Hoff details the saga behind a teenage girl's heartbreaking decision to give up her son for adoption, only to unexpectedly reconnect with him decades later.

Darlene's unplanned pregnancy at the age of seventeen is devastating to her entire family. But her strict father makes it clear that the only option for her unborn child will be adoption.

The years pass, and a young man named Chad prepares to marry the girl of his dreams. Despite a childhood offering him every advantage, Chad's knowledge that he was adopted has haunted him all the way to adulthood.

As the wedding nears, a new twist, a tiny clue, causes Chad to embark on the emotional journey to find the biological mother he has always yearned to know.

Baylard Bear knows what it's like to be different. When just a few weeks old, he was wrapped in a blanket of moss and left on the steps of a human orphanage by his bear parents because they realized they weren't going to be able to give him the life he deserved. They made the hardest - and most unselfish - decision any loving parent can ... they gave their beloved baby boy up for adoption. Follow Baylard as he comes to terms with his unique skills and setbacks, eventually gets adopted and ventures out into the big wide world

How do we find ourselves again after the soul-shattering experience of surrendering a child to adoption? What does our journey toward healing mean for our families and loved ones, for society and most of all for our children and their adoptive family? Searching ..., Carol Schaefer's sequel to her acclaimed memoir, The Other Mother: A Woman's Love for the Child She Gave Up for Adoption, not only takes the reader through the complex challenges of integrating her son and his adoptive family with her own over the twenty-seven years since their reunion, she also draws on extensive research as well as the stories of others to offer guidance and hope for creating enriching relationships after reunion. Woven within the narrative is Schaefer's remarkable creative journey from overcoming her fears of publicly telling her story, through the book's writing and publication, to the experience of the NBC movie version airing before an audience of 25 million viewers - thirty years after she was hidden away in a home for unwed mothers to conceal her "disgraceful" secret. "Carol Schaefer 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 and Founder and Director of Riverside After Adoption Consulting and Training "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 President of the Donaldson Adoption Institute "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

This book was inspired by a fellow teacher, Kate, and her husband, John, as they went through this process to adopt their son, Ethan. During our lunchtime, we discussed when and how to tell a child that they are adopted, and this book seemed to be a gentle and natural way of telling the story of one family on their special quest. The book also shows how one little life can complete a family. I wish everyone on the path toward adoption or living as an adopted child love, strength, and compassion toward everyone concerned.

Lisa A. Mazzeo, LCSW, BCD is a veteran social worker who brings to life for readers her 30 years of working with children and youth in the foster care system. She takes readers on a journey inside of the system and shows us the children and families that the system touches. The outcomes of youth that leave foster care without a family are abysmal - many end up homeless, in jail, unemployed, and suffering from mental illness. Lisa shows us how we can change outcomes through the curative power of love, kindness and nurturing parenting. As she "catches the moon" for these youth, she leaves readers with a sense of hope and inspires them to make a difference in the lives of vulnerable youth everywhere. www.whocancatchthemoon.com "This book is not just for people in the profession, the general population needs to read these heartfelt accounts in order to understand the most neglected in this country: our children. Who Can Catch the Moon? so brilliantly shows that it takes all of us together to make a difference in the lives of children." Maria C. Castillo, LCSW Contributing author in "Miracles Happen: The Transformational Healing Power of Past-Life Memories" by Brian L. Weiss, MD and Amy Weiss, MSW "Share the tears and laughter of adopted and foster kids and their caring, creative, life-changing therapist. Don't miss this riveting look inside the world of human resilience and healing." Elizabeth Murdoch, LCSW Director of Behavioral Health, Family and Children's Agency "With joy, humor and real understanding, Lisa Mazzeo generously shares her memories and lessons with us in Who Can Catch the Moon?. She is a dedicated and honest social worker - and now author. Lisa presents this collection of stories as a gift, to help us to connect with her, with her experience, hopes and challenges as a social worker and, most importantly, with the children she has loved and cared for for so many years. We are so grateful." Meghan Lowney, MSW Former Executive Director, Operation Hope of Fairfield, Inc. Founder, Ripple Effect Consulting

A growing number of children are experiencing the multiple moves that are an inherent part of the Foster Care System. Early Permanence for children is vital for healthy bonding and attachment to their forever families. In our time, open adoptions are the norm and we see a growing number of older child adoptions with children who have spent at least some time in the Foster Care System. These children from hard places have experienced challenges in their early lives. They deserve and require a gentle approach when being transitions to their forever families. Foster Care is by its very nature, a temporary solution to a long-term challenge. Children who suffer repeated disruptions of caregivers are at risk for developmental delays, poor self-regulation and behavioral and mental health problems. The earlier in a child's life that we are able to accomplish permanence the better for the child's attachment capacity and long-term outcomes When an at-risk child is moved to her permanent home, we are disrupting her primary caregiver once again. It is incumbent upon us to undertake this process with care and sensitivity. Our primary goals are to Preserve the Child's Attachment Capacity and to Support their Prior Connections. A traumatic transition can lead to long-term effects on the child and indeed the entire Adoptive family. Transition is the slow and measured relinquishment of the nurture, care and discipline of a child by her current caregivers and the assumption of these same duties by her new Adoptive Parents. When embarked on in a thoughtful, tender manner, transition can be a gentle process that enlarges both the child's sense of self and the circle of those who love and care for them. "In this book, foster and adoptive families will find many practical suggestions and tips that I believe will serve as anchors as they embark on the less than calm seas of transitioning children. Those who read will also find an unwavering commitment to remaining child-focused while having empathy for all involved in the complex dance that is transition."

"ADOPTING DIEGO: A BOY'S JOURNEY" is an international adoption story. The Collins' family adopted Diego who was fi ve years old from an orphanage in Guatemala and brought him back to Michigan to start his new life in his "forever family." His adoptive parents already had grown children and grandchildren. So, this is also the story of becoming parents again at a later age. The book covers the highlights of Diego's experiences and his adaption to his new family and culture. It is a simple children's picture book that can be read by a child or to a child by a parent, grandparent, teacher, or older child. The pictures are actual photographs of Diego as he grows up and becomes a teen. The book frequently asks questions of the reader to involve him/her with the author and to help the reader relate to the story of Diego's journey.

This is a book written by a birth mother about a daughter who is put up for adoption by her own parents without a thought for her own feelings. A family unit of a mother, father and two sisters wait to be re-united. It is a story spanning forty years of difficult relationships with a less than happy ending.

More than just one woman's search for information about the biological mother she believed had died in childbirth, this book explores the mind and feelings of an adopted child. Call Me Ella is a heartwarming and uplifting story about a young girl who considered her adoptive parents her "real parents," yet needed to know more. She needed to know her roots. Her heritage. With a burning desire to have someone who "looked like her," she couldn't wait to marry and have children of her own. She had no idea that her twenty-four year search, which did not begin until after both of her parents had passed away, would involve Sopranos-like tales of organized crime, gambling, and infidelity. Kaufman grew up thinking she killed her mother. As a child, when her adoptive mom answered her question, "Where did I come from?" by saying her birth mother died in childbirth, she believed in her heart she killed the woman who gave her life. She kept asking her mom the same question, hoping to get a different answer. Maybe she'd learn her birth mother had been ill, that it wasn't her fault she died. When Kaufman finally got old enough to figure out it took two people, a man and a woman, to have a child, she asked a new question: "What happened to my birth father? Did he die too?" That's when her mom shot her foot through the kitchen wall screaming, "Don't ever ask me that again." It took her years to realize why that question hit a nerve. In New Jersey, when a baby is adopted, their original birth certificate is sealed, making it seem as if the child did not exist before the adoption. Kaufman never even knew her birth mother's last name until she discovered her adoption papers a week before her mom passed away. Unfortunately, when her mom died with her secrets intact, she thought she'd never learn about her ethnic background or medical history. She wasn't ready to give up. She needed to know more. She needed to know the big secret that kept her mom from answering her questions. With determination and the unexpected help from a self-proclaimed "romantic" stranger, she set out to find her roots. Call Me Ella is a memoir of love, family, loss and perseverance. It shows how we can work to achieve our happy endings.

A personal account of infertility, IVF & adoption. 'After three years and a total of nine embryo transfers, Glenn and I are hanging up our saddles ... For many, three years might seem an insufficient effort, but I am tired. My body is tired, my mind is tired and most of all my heart is tired. I still believe that IVF is a modern, medical miracle ... But I no longer believe it will be our miracle.' What happens when the quest for a family seems to bring only tears and despair? As Kylie and her husband Glenn discovered you simply pick yourself up, take a deep breath and carry on. 'As harsh as it seems, the adoption process in Western Australia can only be described as excruciating: intrusive, intense, bureaucratic and judgemental.' Kylie's struggle to conquer the intricacies and inconsistencies of the adoption process push both her and Glenn to the limits of their endurance, and just when all seems lost they are handed a lifeline that sees their hope of becoming parents flicker back to life. 'Is it bad news?' 'No, it is very good news ... we have a baby for you, a little boy.' Honest, perceptive and deeply personal 'From Here to Maternity' is a warm and ultimately joyful story about one couple's determination to overcome infertility and bureaucracy and become a family against all the odds.

The Ugly One in the Middle is Alex Stan Campbell's story of the fifty-year search for two people; His birth mother, and the angelic, sensual woman of his dreams. Kind of romantic, right? But, wait. There's humor, mystery and intrigue. Just before Stan's sixteenth birthday, his Aunt Patsy let it slip that his mom and pop did not conceive him. Quel horror His adoptive mom knew something dark, but she wasn't talking. It didn't matter much...then.Stan's top priorities of the day were drowning his bashfulness in wine and rubbing alcohol. That didn't work. He threw up and fell down a lot.

Like cowboys turning in the saddle to look at where they came from, "Searching for the Castle" documents the backtrail of author Barbara Leigh Ohrstrom's adoption. It begins with her urgency as an eighteen-year-old woman initiating her search for her birth parents. Her recollection includes court petitions, letters, Division of Social Service documents, and other original documents usually buried behind the lock and key of the law.

In this memoir, she narrates the unearthing of her history and that of her family. Some of her discoveries are filled with pain, while others are joyful, including locating sisters, another brother, and eventually nieces and a nephew. A story of how one woman comes to terms with her identity, Searching for the Castle tells of real people doing the best they can to live and love in the often heartbreaking circumstances of life.

As Ohrstrom shares her journey to find her birth parents, she reveals her emotions throughout the process, discovering that her identity is self-created, but also that her being is governed, in part, by her ancestors and family lines. "Searching for the Castle" communicates the message that love creates families and that the family to which Ohrstrom belonged in foster care gave her a mother, father, and family filled with love and decency.

For many couples, the joy of finding out they are expecting a child is enough to fill a household with celebration. Each year millions of couples find out the good news and to about the long process of preparing for a new addition to the family.

For others, that day never comes...even with all the science and determination in the world, some couples face an empty nursery filled with empty hope for a family.

Traditional adoption comes with a scarcity of babies, paperwork and agency red tape.

Dear Child details 4 very separate and heartfelt journeys into the world of open adoption; where the birth mother and adoptive parents are both involved in the life of the child.

All of the fears, joys, hurdles and exhilaration of this process are chronicled in Dear Child.

Guide for the prospective parent considering adoption of a child from a foreign country. Discussion of Reactive Attachment Disorder with treatment options.

Anne first wrote and illustrated her story 15 years ago. She had adopted two children. She felt that by telling this step-by-step, thought-provoking realistic account, she could reinforce to her much-loved children that God knew what would be best for the baby being adopted. Compassionately and thoughtfully, Anne shared the concerns and worries of the birth mother. She explained the important role of an orphanage for babies awaiting adoption. When the baby boy was chosen for adoption, she described the excitement and preparations of his mommy and daddy. She also added the love and anticipation of family members and friends by showing the nursery full of heartwarming reminders. Anne followed the baby as he was placed with a foster family who were able to nurture him more individually than caregivers at the orphanage could. When the time came for the baby to travel, she explained the foster parents' bittersweet feelings. The baby's long journey led to the excitement of him being placed into his mommy's arms-and then everyone's realization of what God had known all along. Anne's soft pastels show many aspects of each stage of the infant's story. The cares, worries, concerns, and unknowns appear in both the intuitive text and illustrations. This book is inspirational for prospective adoptive families, adopted children, foster families, and others who have loved and anticipated the arrivals of adoptees joining the families of friends and relatives alike. Anne's intricate, heartfelt details will delight young and old readers.

This is a sequel to Family Secrets: Letters to My Granddaughters A NOTE FROM GRACE Several years back I enrolled in a writing class called, "Your Dreams and Writing." While taking the class I dreamed I was asked to write a manuscript. When it was finished I took it with me to a park. While sitting on a park bench watching a little girl play with her mom I suddenly saw a title wave coming from afar off. Quickly I placed my manuscript on top of the park pavilion thinking it would be safe there. In the next scene of the dream I was in class and it was time for me to hand in my assignment. I told the teacher I did not have my manuscript because of the tidal wave that had hit the park. Although I had tried to keep it safe atop the pavilion it had been destroyed. About that time the little girl entered the room with my manuscript. I knelt down beside her as she handed it to me. She looked me straight in the eye and said, "You know I lost my mom in that title wave." I replied, "Yes honey, I know you did." And that was the end of the dream. It is possible you hold that manuscript in your hands... rescued by a motherless child and finally published for other children who survived a title wave that took their mother. Grace Ann Neuharth

Based on true events, this 2014 National Indie Excellent Book Award Winner, is an inspirational story, packed with powerful emotions and extreme risks, takes the reader on a gripping ride that stirs the heart and encourages the soul. His charisma, good looks and charm captivates Linda and she falls for the successful VP who wines and dines her, until she winds up pregnant. When he tells her to get an abortion, she searches her soul and looks for other options before making any decision. With her plan set into motion, Linda thinks everything is under control until a horrific catastrophe sends her into a devastating tailspin. How will she find the courage to survive the darkest dawn of her life?