The maltreatment of children is an issue that has always been with us and civilized societies provide a range of services both social and medical to care for the children and families afflicted. In recent years, greater attention has been drawn to the medical aspects by competent authorities in the fields of forensic medicine, forensic psychiatry, epidemiological psychiatry, child psychiatry and family psychiatry; as well as the social aspects by those child welfare and child care agencies who have the difficult and distasteful task of removing children, with the help of the courts, from...

Anyone looking in from the outside would never describe my family as dysfunctional. Words like poised, exemplary, and honorable would be far more likely to be listed. The downside of living in a fishbowl, however, is that everyone has to keep up the theatrics of appearances. I'm not very good at that. And that's why I walked away. Now, thirteen years later, I have no choice but to go back and face the very people who helped make the decision to leave oh-so easy. The parents who wanted to change everything about me. The boy who shattered my heart. And the boy who will forever have the pieces....

It's a new year, and it's bringing in all sorts of new stuff. Malcolm's school activities are starting to pick up, business is booming, and I receive the offer of a lifetime. But a girl can only wear so many hats before she starts feeling the weight. And one would think that having not one, but two men to rely on would help alleviate the pressure of being a successful business woman and mother, but all they bring to me are feelings that are confusing and hard to keep under control. When those feelings start to sort themselves out, this momma has to decide what is best for her future. But when...