Adoption Detective: Memoir of an Adopted Child

A passionate love affair between high school sweethearts creates an accidental pregnancy during a sultry night on the shore of Lake Michigan. Rebecca's unforgiving parents banish her to an unwed mother's home where she secretly gives birth to a baby girl. Her daughter Judy is placed in the loving care of foster parents before being callously given to Mario and Rosella Romano for adoption on her first birthday.

Reoccurring visions and fantasies of her birthmother plague Judy's consciousness for three decades until a life-changing passage into adulthood causes her to question why she was abandoned. What begins as a simple investigation into her medical and ancestral history slowly evolves into a passionate quest to discover her roots.

Through good timing, perseverance, and a few small miracles, Judy eventually solves the mystery of her origins. But will the woman she has been seeking welcome Judy back into her life?

"This book is riveting -- I literally could not put it down. Your story is solid and exceptional. I can't say enough good things about this book."

-- Sheila Mincer, speech-language pathologist, Mountain Board of Cooperative Educational Services

"The reader will hang on to every phase of the adoption search -- this is a life story that deserves this book."

-- Terrie Drake, librarian, Colorado Mountain College

"Judith Romano is a plucky Midwestern orphan who faces adversity and steadfastly refuses to back down until she has accomplished her goal of finding her birth parents. It is impossible to put this book down before it is finished -- other adoptees will be greatly inspired to find their own roots."

-- Jean Paton, mother of the adoption reform movement, founder of Orphan Voyage, and author of The Adopted Break Silence

Judith and Martin Land live in Colorado and Arizona. They told the entire story of Judith Land's adoption, from her birth through adulthood, to provide the reader with unique insights into the mind of an adoptee at various stages of her life. Judith and Martin Land live in Colorado and Arizona. They told the entire story of Judith Land's adoption, from her birth through adulthood, to provide the reader with unique insights into the mind of an adoptee at various stages of her life.