"Samantha awoke with the sun shining in her face. She yawned, stretching her arms above her head. She started to run her fingers through her hair, but was unable. Her fingers became tangled in short, tight curls. Samantha gasped and sat straight up."

What in the world . "Her heart pounded with fear." What happened to my beautiful hair?

"Her eyes flew open. She stared at the new surroundings. Pink wallpaper with little white roses covered the walls. A frilly, white-lace curtain hung on the enormous bay window. The room was filled with heavy, wooden antique furniture. Expensive porcelain dolls were neatly placed on the oak shelves covering one wall."

""Where am I?" uttered Samantha."

"She got out of bed and looked around the room." Where am I? "She turned her head toward a full-length mirror and gasped at the reflection. It was a stranger that stared back at her. The figure in the mirror was a very fat girl with pale green eyes, short, curly red hair, fair skin, and a face covered with freckles. Her eyes grew wide with recognition." Virginia Morris! What's going on here? Why am I seeing Virginia and not myself?

"I like Jesus but I don't want anything to do with the church " That is a frequent mantra of young people today. Almost everybody you talk to can share a bad experience they had with the church. If you do word association with the term "church" you will probably get responses like, "judgmental," "critical," "condescending," "out of touch," "insignificant," and "old fashioned." This is hard to hear for those of us who have always loved the church. But we should pay attention. We are doing something wrong. The church has a message of acceptance, forgiveness, and love but it is not being heard. This book is not a how to repair the church book. It is more like a journal. It is an honest look at what is going on with the church and how some are seeking ways to allow the church to be a place of grace. It is about putting Christ at the center without delineating a circumference. If you are a church leader, this book will probably make you uncomfortable. If you have turned your back on the church, this book might give you hope once again. If you are interested in joining the conversation about how to be the church this book will be a good place to begin.

Unfair Advantage: Sexual Abuse by Psychotherapists, Priests, and Police is about trusted professionals in mental health, religious, and law enforcement fields who exploit and abuse children and young adults, and the people and institutions who enable these perpetrators by covering up their crimes.
This book is intended to be a resource for:
Victims and survivors of professional exploitation and abuse;
Students of psychology and social work;
Police: newly-sworn officers, administrators, and internal affairs investigators;
School Personnel;
Parents
The public
To expose sexual predators' modus operandi and tactics for avoiding apprehension for their crimes for as long as decades.
This book is comprised of several parts:
Section One describes the dynamics involved in the crime of sexual abuse, characteristics of sexual predators, the predators' modus operandi, and actual case and situational examples.
Section Two describes the impact and effects on the victims, the victims' survival strategies, and the perpetrators' defenses.
Section Three describes behavioral indicators of the possibility that a child is being sexually abused, statutes of limitations and other legal hurdles, and websites for specific resources for assistance with intervention.

"Samantha awoke with the sun shining in her face. She yawned, stretching her arms above her head. She started to run her fingers through her hair, but was unable. Her fingers became tangled in short, tight curls. Samantha gasped and sat straight up."

What in the world . "Her heart pounded with fear." What happened to my beautiful hair?

"Her eyes flew open. She stared at the new surroundings. Pink wallpaper with little white roses covered the walls. A frilly, white-lace curtain hung on the enormous bay window. The room was filled with heavy, wooden antique furniture. Expensive porcelain dolls were neatly placed on the oak shelves covering one wall."

""Where am I?" uttered Samantha."

"She got out of bed and looked around the room." Where am I? "She turned her head toward a full-length mirror and gasped at the reflection. It was a stranger that stared back at her. The figure in the mirror was a very fat girl with pale green eyes, short, curly red hair, fair skin, and a face covered with freckles. Her eyes grew wide with recognition." Virginia Morris What's going on here? Why am I seeing Virginia and not myself?

All seventeen-year-old April Barlene wants to do on this particular Saturday is hang out with her friends at the mall. The last thing she needs is her three-year-old brother, Michael, tagging along. But it's her mother's weekend to work at the hospital, so it's Michael in tow, or nothing.

While April and her friend Steph are shopping, Michael mysteriously disappears. Even after the teenagers involve the police, there is still no sign of him. Tormented with guilt and frustrated by the lack of leads, April decides to take matters into her own hands and investigate her brother's disappearance with her friends' assistance.

When April enlists the help of her ex-boyfriend-turned-policeman, Joshua Marshall, she immediately regrets her decision. Every time she gets close to finding an answer, Joshua thwarts her efforts. Does Joshua have something to do with Michael's disappearance, or is he trying to keep April safe? She doesn't believe him capable of kidnapping a child, but reality has become distorted, and April no longer knows who to trust.

On July 20, 1995, author Terri Austin Chiles received a call at work that she had been dreading-her mother, Amanda, is dying.

Amanda Fouther, a poor African American girl from Birmingham, Alabama, lived in a shack with her parents and seven siblings. Though she had very little going for her except charm, wit, and incredible good looks, she used these attributes to win a statewide beauty contest and college scholarship. This would be the first of many steps on a path filled with astonishing successes and devastating failures. But Amanda earned her doctorate degree and raised three children, including Chiles, who became a prominent Wall Street attorney.

As Chiles endures a painful divorce and struggles to maintain financial stability, she makes sure that the well-being of her children is her highest priority. Drawing on everything she learned from her mother, Chiles obtains a small but affordable apartment and enrolls her children in the best school in Manhattan. Through all of life's difficulties, it is the values and lessons instilled by Chiles's mother that give her the strength to keep going.

This captivating memoir includes letters and journal entries that provide a poignant tribute to Amanda's memory.