Missing Pieces

By Sherry A. Cochran

Missing Pieces recounts a woman's search for the family she lost as a child. It describes separation, abandonment, severe abuse, and the torment she experienced in foster care and how the author went... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1931195099
• ISBN13: 9781931195096
• Release Date: June 2004
• Publisher: Kiwe Pub
• Length: 196 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.5" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Don't Overlook this Memoir

One of the things I love about being a reviewer is that I get to read so many books, in genres that I might otherwise overlook. Missing Pieces: A Woman's Search for her Birth Family is one of those books. Don't let the genre/topic of this book fool you. This is not your typical memoir. Missing Pieces follows the journey of young Cheryl as she is torn from her family and the tumultuous effects this has on her life. With an alcoholic father and overwhelmed mother, Cheryl still managed to feel love from her older siblings. But the State felt otherwise and took charge of the situation. Soon, all the children were removed from the home and placed in foster care. Originally placed with a caring couple in a big farmhouse, Cheryl watched as one after the other of her siblings was adopted. Eventually, she too was adopted. Life at first seemed bright for the curious girl with her adoptive parents. But slowly the child's mother began to change and violence erupted. With a father who was absent for long periods of time due to his work, Cheryl was at the mercy of her adoptive mother. The first signs of trouble are when the mother starts to verbally abuse her young charge. Having never been truly loving toward her new daughter, the adoptive mother's angry words soon morphed into physical abuse. This is the beginning of years of incredible hardship for Cheryl who is unable to confide to anyone the torture she is enduring. On the rare occasions when she runs away and tries to talk to her grandparents, she still gets returned to her abusive mother. Cochran tells the story of young Cheryl in the third person, describing the feelings, both emotional and physical, that the child is suffering. The words come from a distant, but caring, narrator. It is clear from the start that Cochran is talking about her own painful childhood and it is done in a sensitive and compassionate way. Some of the episodes of Cheryl's abuse are hard to read, but I found myself unable to turn away. "Where is her father?" "Why doesn't somebody take the child away?" I asked these and other questions as I sped through the book. A unique and interesting twist to the storytelling is that this book is divided into two separate yet equal parts. A few chapters describing Cheryl's turmoil, and then, just when you are deep into the story and need to turn that page to see what happens, the next chapter transitions to Cochran's search for her birth family. It is a successful technique that keeps the reader turning the page; equally interested in both the search for Cochran's family and in following the child's life. Quill says: This heartfelt tale is one that should not be overlooked.

Step into the world of Foster care

October 21, 2004 11 year old Cheryl is in a world virtually alone. Taken away from her loving family after they fell on hard times was shuffled through the foster care system to abusive adults who were suppose to protect and nurture her. This caused Cheryl to grow up feeling broken, misunderstood, and distrustful of adults. In later years of Cheryl life she is driven to chemical dependency and depression and attempted suicide. It is with the help of FINALLY being with positive foster parents Sarah and Don; she begins to see her own self worth and what she can do to turn her life around. Going through counseling and meeting others like herself, she understands she must relive those painful memories and put the pieces of the bad dream (her-life) together. She begins to search for her birth family and to search for her self as well. She finds strength and courage she didn't know she possessed. This story makes you want to collect all the broken children in the world and provide a save heaven. The author Sherry Cochran grew up through the foster system with abusive and neglectful parents and faced these same feelings of loveless ness and loneliness with a hidden and unknown hearing disability. Sherry allows you to step into the shoes of a young and trustful child and experience the heartache, disappointments, and abuse. It is only when you return to your safe everyday existence you become horrified and shocked of what some people are capable of doing to a child, some may even be your next door neighbor, teacher, or even a family member. Sherry Has provided a list of agencies in this book to help children report abuse and neglect, runaways, and search organizations to help with finding their birth parents. I hope all the foster care parents read this book so they can understand and pickup the messages these lost and lonely souls are sending out. They must intercede and help them get on the right track. Reviewed by Demetria Harris

FEAR FACTOR in the Real World!

Mommy Dearest has nothing on the woman who adopted little Cheryl. No wonder the poor child wished the woman dead!I wished it myself and had to put the book down several times to get my own emotions under control again. Such a horrifying way to be raised! If you are a parent, this book will tear your heart out. If you are searching for your own birth-family, it will give you valuable advise and resources as well as some sound reality checking. Read it with a box of tissue and a pillow to pound!

missing pieces

Interesting reading about child abuse. Would of rated it 5-star but I felt it should of added more information about the main characters in the story.